If you were to die tonight and
stand before God, what is there that you would like to come back to put right
or set in order, before having to explain your life to him?
I was travelling on a train down
to London to catch a flight out to India some years ago, As we approached
Euston station I happened to look out of the carriage window and my eyes caught
sight of a huge sign on top of a tall building. It took me by surprise and
brought me to attention, for the words stood higher than one of the floors, and
said, ‘PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD’.
This really is not what you want to
see just before boarding a 747 and flying high above the earth for 9 hours.
It struck me to the core. I said
to God that I was not ready to meet him yet, for there were many things I had
not done which I should have done, and there many things I needed to sort out
or put right before leaving this world.
I know that there are some Christians
who would suggest that I was wrong in my thinking and that I should be like
them, all ‘sanctified and proper’, and not fussed about standing before my
Creator. However, I know the truth in my heart, and I would rather be honest
with God, than trust in my own good feelings. The Book of Life says that it is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, and that we should walk in godly
fear and reverence of his glory.
My mind became occupied with the
sense of finality. I have preached and spoken of heaven and hell, of
forgiveness and judgement, of the day when all of us shall stand before him to
give account; but now I suddenly came to a realization of the fact that when
life ends, there is no going back to deal with anything that was outstanding.
Now the doors will be shut behind me, and I must meet face to face the God who
I have preached and taught about for so many years.
I wanted to turn the line of thinking off, but could not get those words out of my mind. It was like I was given the order to get ready to switch off the light of living in this world, and now was the moment to face the truth.
When I returned to England, I was
asked to address the students in a Bible college. I told them my story, and
they looked at me as though I were an unconverted, disbelieving infidel who
knew nothing of what the Bible teaches. If indeed they knew anything of
doctrine, they might have supposed me to be one who had not been taught the
basics of Christianity.
The thing is, I would rather be
honest, especially when I understand that God knows everything about me anyway.
He knows my thoughts before I think them, my words before I speak them, and my
true motives, even when I do not recognise them myself.
I do not want to go to meet my
God if I have not performed all that he has called me to do. I do not want to
stand before him with sin on my plate, or unforgiveness in my heart toward
anyone. I do not want to go before fulfilling the commission of preaching the
gospel to all that I can before my time is up. I do not wish to leave,
knowing that those nearest to me never heard about Jesus’ love and offer of
salvation to them.
There is a glibness and
familiarity that church-goers have with God these days that has nothing to do
with being right with God. They call him ‘Mate’ and ‘The Bloke upstairs’,
because they have no knowledge of him whatsoever. Oh yes, they go to church,
sing the ‘Christian’ superstar’s latest worship songs, throw some money in the
offering, and waltz around thinking that God is happy with them because they
have money in the bank and a nice house to live in.
The cheapness of modern
Christianity is both shameful and derelict of any righteousness or true
godliness. If God actually came to visit the churches in reality, the
congregations would flee the building, including the pastor, the deacons, the ‘worship
leader’, and the one on the door offering a welcome to the spiritual (but not so
spiritual) clubhouse.
I know that some people (if not
most church-goers) will think my words and writings far too harsh and critical,
but I was told to speak the truth in love, and not compromise the message.
So, if you should die today and
have to face God, how will you stand? What would you like to go back and sort
out if he would give you a second chance? Who would you go and seek to persuade
to get right with God? Who do you need to really forgive from the bottom of
your heart that you still hold a grudge against?
What would you do with all the money and assets that you have accumulated over the years that God has entrusted you with? How much of what he gave you did you use for his kingdom in the spread of the gospel and the support of worldwide evangelism?
What will your
accounts show when God examines them?
Who are you leaving all your treasures to once you go?
What does God think about that?
Did you ever ask him?
Knowing, as you do, that time is short and the world is yet mostly unreached,
what will you have to say to God about your unwillingness and disinterest in
the cause that brought Christ Jesus to a cross of shame and pain? How will you
explain that you thought singing choruses and floating round the church in your
nice clothes like some ballerina had anything to do with the Great Commission?
‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’, is a command, and is the essential proof that the love of God is truly shed abroad in our hearts. Why are so many church bank accounts heaving at the seams, while their commitment to reaching the lost is budgeted out at less than 1%?
The pastors and the congregations will have to
explain that to God himself on that day.
Our world is dying. Men, women and our young people are headed to hell while we claim to know the truth that can rescue them and lead them to safety and heaven. To have done little or nothing to fulfil what should be as natural to us as trying to rescue someone from a burning building, is a crime and indictment against us as ‘believers’.
We have no excuse.
There is still time to put things
in order and do what God says. Never mind the fancy new multi-million pound
church building. It is not the means of salvation, nor is it the ‘go ye into all
the world’ that Jesus spoke of. Your church building has meant very little over
the last two years, and maybe the meeting in homes and through modern methods
of communication have brought us to a better mind-set of what we are really
called to do before Christ returns.
I am simply focusing on the challenge
of the hour, and the call of God to repentance, which simply means turning
around and facing his direction rather than our leaning on our own imperfect understanding.
JGM 2022
