THE PHONE IS RINGING
Will you answer the call?
If you or someone you know isn’t a faithful child of God at this moment, please keep reading. Each person who is away from God has his or her reasons, I suppose. One of the most common rationales, it seems, is, “I’m planning to give my live to God when the time is right. Maybe tomorrow or next week or next year…just not today.” Such are the sentiments of modern-day Felixes whose lack of a sense of urgency has their good intentions waiting for a “convenient time” (Acts 24:25). I’m sure the devil loves to hear good intentions subduing actions, because he’ll see to it that there’s never a convenient time to become a Christian. However, at certain times in life we’re awakened to our need for God. And at these times it’s apparent that good intentions aren’t enough.
One of these life-changing moments is when you witness your very own child come into the world. The incredible joy you feel is only matched by the incredible weight of responsibility. Your child is depending on you to supply him or her with every single thing he or she needs to survive. You realize that, as a parent, no one else in the world will have a bigger influence on this child’s future that you. And since only a small portion of your child’s future involves life here on earth, it hits you: your number one responsibility is to do everything you possibly can to see that your son or daughter lives with God in Heaven forever. You haven’t just been blessed with a child; you’ve been entrusted with a soul—a soul, that, like your own, will never die.
For other people, it’s life’s problems that serve as a spiritual wake-up call. Whether it’s family problems, financial problems, or health problems, God is trying to get your attention. When faced with a problem too big for you to deal with, there’s only one place to turn. Only God is powerful enough to bear your burdens, calm your fears, and handle your problems.
Sometimes the death of a Christian loved one gets a person’s attention. Since you’ll never again see this person on this side of eternity, your only hope now is for a reunion in Heaven. So, like King David after his infant child died, you resolve, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (2 Sam. 12:23).
People who have ignored all their wake-up calls throughout their lives will often answer the call when the doctor says, “The tests came back positive. You may not have much longer to live.” At this stage in life, getting ready to die is all that’s important. Isaiah’s message to Hezekiah highlights the priority of preparedness: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live’” (2 Kgs. 20:1). It makes sense; where else can you look when you’re helplessly lying flat on your back?
As the sun of your life is setting, what else is worthy of your attention than the two most important appointments you will ever keep: death (unless Christ comes in your lifetime) and judgment (Heb. 9:27)? Trust me, if you’ve never wanted to be a Christian before then, you’ll want to be a Christian on the Judgment Day. Even if God never got your attention in life, He’ll have it then. If you failed to answer every wake-up call in life, you’ll want to answer it at the judgment. But it will be too late; God will have already hung up.
But you don’t have to wait until then. The phone is ringing now. Answer it, because it won’t ring forever.~Daniel Hope