This past
week a young man I knew died. I hadn’t seen him in about three
years but these are some of the things I remember about him. He loved sports, movies, music, and he loved to joke-around. He was attractive,
tall, and had a pleasant disposition.
He loved his parents and spoke of them often. He loved his brother and his niece and nephew; in fact, he LOVED children. His
love for children was such that he spent time working with children
diagnosed with disabilities.
What I don’t
know about is the condition of his soul. I know that when I last saw him, he
was not a believer. The last contact I had with him was to let him know I was
praying for him. Whether or not he ever accepted Christ I do not know nor will
I ever know.
I have cried
over the loss of someone so young. I have cried over the pain I know his
parents are feeling. Most of all I have cried because I know that if he died without
Christ he is forever lost. And that pain is the most acute of all.
I would like to
put the painful memories aside and begin to forget; but I cannot. For the death
of this young man is now a reminder to me of the urgency of the gospel. The urgency
of the gospel is that Christ could return at any time and it is also that any of us can step into eternity at any time because we do not know the day of our death. All we
have is the moment in which we now live.
The urgency
of the gospel is that we live in a world of lost and dying people. And these
people live around us; they aren’t all strangers—they are family members and
friends. It is our job to tell them that Jesus died on the cross to save them;
to tell them about how on the third day Jesus arose and is now seated at the
right hand of the Father; to tell them it is not about how good or bad they are
but it is about how good God is and how much He loves us. "For God loved the
world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes
in Him will not perish but have eternal life”. John 3:16, HCSB
Pray for courage;
speak with boldness and spread the gospel with urgency.
God Bless!
