•11:14 AM
The following is a repost originally written by myself on 3.26.09. I wanted to share it once again because, right along through here, I feel it can help someone. Hope it touches and helps you. God Bless!
I am dying.
No, I don't have a fatal disease or terminal illness, but
it's true.
I AM dying.
I'm one step closer to death than I was
yesterday.
And if we stopped and thought for a moment, we all are.
Life
is soooo short, man. Death has no respect for age. It used to be at one
time, all the older people would die off, but lately it seems as if the
young ones are filling up those vacancies in those graveyards.
One
minute you're here, and the next you're gone..just like that.
Some
people don't like to think about it, or talk about it, but hey, that's
reality.
You're not here to stay.
When you die, that's just the
beginning of it all.
I know some of us are in that mode "I'm young and
i'm gonna do what I wanna do while I can do it" but that's not the
mindset we should have.
The devil wants us to think that we have all the
time in the world...but in reality we don't.
Don't you know if you die
in your sins, your soul goes to him to be tortured for all eternity?
Since young people are dying as quickly as the older generation, don't
you think we should be in good standing with God?
When we die and
judgment comes, we have to stand before Him and give an account of
everything we did on earth.
Some of us say "I'm a good person" or "I
love God" but it takes more than just that. You can't live your life any
old way and expect God to be pleased with you. You have to live
according to His teachings.
Sure, it might be hard and you'll have to
give up a LOT.
But look at the BIG PICTURE..if you live as He would have
you to live and follow His word, you spend eternity with Him?
Isn't
that a wonderful thought?
To know after all the hurt and pain and drama
down here you had to deal with, you can rest in Heaven with him forever?
Why would you wanna live a life full of hell here on earth and spend
eternity in hell 'cause of how you were living?
We need to take self
examinations and change up the way we live if it's not measuring up to God's standards.
Tomorrow is not
promised...neither is the next second.
We should stop saying "I'll
worship God when I get older", who's to say you have that long left?
You
should do it NOW while there's still breath in your body and blood running warm in your veins.
Sure you may lose some friends along the
way, your family may even turn against you, but when you face God you
have to answer for YOU and what you did or didn't do during your life.
It's funny how we can talk about any and everything, but when God is
brought up, there's cause for debate.
Why can we talk hours and hours
about the latest music, gossip about this and that person, but when
something comes up about our soul and eternity we get defensive?
God
loves ALL OF US and doesn't want any of us to perish.
But he destroyed
the world once before and only eight survived, He has the right to do it
again.
Why take that chance?
Don't you want to hear Him say "Well done"
on that last and final day?
Don't you want to see His face in peace
instead of fear?
Some may think i'm crazy, or a "religious nut" but hey...
you think what you want. It used to bug me that people would
think I was weird for standing up and doing what was right
by telling others about God, but it doesn't bother me anymore.
I know i'm doing what God would have me to do;
and as long as He's pleased, that's all that matters to me.
Don't you want to be on someone's side who...
..will love you unconditionally?
..will be there for you all the time when others turn their backs?
..will forgive you when you do wrong instead of hanging it over your head?
Do what's right:
Live for Him♥
Some may think i'm crazy, or a "religious nut" but hey...
you think what you want. It used to bug me that people would
think I was weird for standing up and doing what was right
by telling others about God, but it doesn't bother me anymore.
I know i'm doing what God would have me to do;
and as long as He's pleased, that's all that matters to me.
Don't you want to be on someone's side who...
..will love you unconditionally?
..will be there for you all the time when others turn their backs?
..will forgive you when you do wrong instead of hanging it over your head?
Do what's right:
Live for Him♥
Hear the Gospel. "How shall they call on him whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).
Believe. "And without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing unto him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" (Hebrews 11:6).
Repent of past sins. "The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17:30).
Confess Jesus as Lord. "Behold here is water; What doth hinder me to be baptized ? And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thy heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:36-37).
Be baptized for the remission of sins. "And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
Live a Christian life. "Ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
Want to learn more?
http://church-of-christ.org/churches/
Visit that site,
click the area in which you reside,
find a congregation near you and pay a visit.
