July 24, 2014 A great story! “I heard a story about a man who had just died and found himself standing outside the pearly gates. Simon Peter himself greeted the recent arrival and immediately began leafing through the Book of Life to see if the man was qualified to enter Heaven. (Personal note, you always know you are in trouble when Peter shows up at the gate!) “Hmmmm….” Said Peter. “What?” said the man, a little concerned about Peter’s hesitation. “What’s the matter?” Peter looked up from the book. “You know what, buddy?” he said. “I’m looking up your records, and frankly, I’m not finding a lot on you. It’s not like you’ve done anything really bad in your life; but then again, I don’t have any record of anything good you’ve done. Can you tell me one good thing you ever did while you were on the earth?” “Well, yes,” the man replied, “as a matter of fact I can. There was the one time when I was driving down the street and saw a motorcycle gang gathered around a woman. Her car had broken down, and they were circling, closing in on her. So I pulled my car over, jumped out, popped the trunk, grabbed a tire iron, ran right into the middle of the group, and said to them, ‘If you want to get to this girl, you have to go through me first.’ And then I hit one of them on the head to make my point.” “Well, well,” said Peter. “That is impressive. When did that happen?” “Ummmm, like maybe three minutes ago,” he replied. (Greg Laurie, Following Jesus in the Modern World” Allen David Books page 267-268) Even though this story is shredded with theological discrepancies it reminds us of two great truths. First, all of us are going to die and secondly, none of us knows the day or the way we will die. Our death may be sudden or after a long illness, we may go with a physical death or in a terrible accident, but the fact is, we will one day leave this world and in an instance we will stand before God. Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” I think sometime I or someone should preach a sermon on “after this”! No matter what you are going through there will be an “after this” and my friend what happens after this life is what is going to be important. What is the challenge? Work each day as if you will be here for another 100 years but live as if you could die today. Keep your relationship with God up to date, keep your relationship with others in tack and good order, and realize this life is only the dressing room for the life to come.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:45:27 +0000
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