Monday, August 29, 2005
When you're little, your parents seem immortal. They're not. Sooner or later, most of us get the kind of call I got not long ago - a parent is gone. In my case, the hospital called to say my Mom had been admitted due to a medical emergency, but her body gave out and she was gone. No matter what the circumstances, the death of someone you love is always a shock. When you're the only living child and your other parent is already gone, there can be a numbing list of arrangements that you suddenly have to make. Thankfully, that wasn't the case with my Mom. Mercifully, funeral arrangements had been made and paid for years ago.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Important Arrangements You'll Ever Make."
It was a real blessing to have funeral arrangements made in advance. But my mother had made much more important pre-arrangements for the day she died, and those arrangements were the greatest blessing of all. Years ago, my Mom made a choice that guaranteed she would be in heaven for all eternity. These are the most important arrangements you will ever make - or fail to make.
God knows we're so busy living that we don't give much thought to dying. In fact, we generally try to avoid thinking about death as much as possible. Until we're looking in the casket at someone we've just lost. It's hard to look face-to-face at death like that and not think about, "Where will I be when it's me there?" This isn't about being morbid. It's about being ready. If I know I'm prepared for something that's coming up, I don't have to keep thinking about it. It's settled. There's nothing more critical for you to settle than your eternal destination. Avoiding those arrangements carries a price too high to pay.
That's why the Bible says in Amos 4, verses 12 and 13, our word for today from the Word of God, "Prepare to meet your God ... He who forms the mountains, creates the wind ... and treads the high places of the earth - the Lord God Almighty is His name." It is this awesome God who will decide when you and I will take our last breath; when eternity will begin for each and every one of us. The Bible says that you and I have an appointment with our Creator - the time when the old-timers used to say you "meet your Maker." God's Book says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" ( Hebrews 9:27). A divine appointment, the nearness of which we cannot know, and judgment for every wrong thing we've ever done.
When you face God, it's too late to make your arrangements. That needs to be done here and now. So many people think they'll get to heaven by being good. They're wrong - eternally wrong. The Bible clearly explains: "It is by grace (that's undeserved love) that you have been saved, through faith - and this ... is the gift of God - not by works" ( Ephesians 2:8-9). All our good can't possibly cancel our sin because sin has an eternal death penalty, and a death penalty can't be paid by doing good. Someone has to die, and someone did. Jesus did - so you don't have to. Your only hope is grabbing Him like a drowning person would grab a rescuer.
If you've never done that, you're not "prepared to meet your God." But you can be beginning this very day. You can actually know from this moment on that you are going to heaven when you die, because the sin that would keep you out of heaven has been forever forgiven by the One who died for that sin. Your spiritual rescue begins the moment you say, "Jesus, I'm putting my total trust in You and what You did on the cross for me. I'm Yours." I wrote a little booklet called Yours For Life to explain how you begin your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I want to send it to you if you'll just let me know you want it.
There is no greater peace, no greater security, than to know your arrangements for eternity have all been made. This very day you can prepare to meet your God.