Two weeks and counting...
By Erik Farstad
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and
where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart is also" Matthew 6:19-21
When you are lying on your deathbed, what will have been important to
you? Will you look back and say it was your collection of wealth and
assets that you accumulated over the years? Did you carry on the
tradition of your great family name by having children, or was there no
time for that? If you do have kids, what will their legacy be? I ask
you, what is important to you?
I want you to imagine you have just been told you have two weeks to
live. At the end of those two weeks you will have to leave your house,
your car, your family and even your clothes, you will be taken away from
your life completely naked. Suddenly everything looks a lot different
doesn't it? Sure, what once was important is not so important anymore.
I would think the first thing you would be concerned with was where you
were going when you die. Well you have two weeks to figure it out, but
wait what if you get hit by a car tomorrow. Suddenly your two weeks
would turn into one day!
Let's say religion was not your strong point and that Jesus guy never
really interested you. All that talk about Heaven and Hell was for
those "fanatics" or "holly-rollers." Well, perhaps your tune is
changing and it's time to seriously look into what those fanatics had to
say. Or rather you do know Jesus but never really spent much time
sharing your faith with others. In either case the seriousness of today
and knowing and sharing Jesus with others just took priority. You don't
want to go to Hell and don't want any of your friends or family to end
up there either, so you turn to Jesus and ask forgiveness and invite Him
into your life. But sadly you have only 14 days to share Him with
others, when you could have had years if you accepted Jesus sooner.
As the days clip away, each hour seems more and more precious than the
last. You have a sense of peace knowing that you are headed for an
eternity in Heaven, and are enjoying your last days on earth as a
believer. You kick yourself for not living with this sense of urgency
before. You wasted days and years in frivolous behavior and to top it
all off it never saved you from your fate that lies just days away. For
some of you, you've been a follower of Jesus for years and have shared
this fact with very few. You may even go to church, sending your kids
off to Sunday school but never really telling them the significance of
who Jesus is and what he did for them. Then you think of your
associates at work, did they even know what you believed? As all of
these thoughts race across your mind, the fourteenth day comes. It's
time to leave this world. You are excited to meet Christ and that you
made the right choice by accepting His sacrifice for your sins. You
have escaped Hell's flames and darkness, but wish you would have lived
with this passion and urgency a lot sooner than in your last days.
Now you're back, it's today and you're not dying in two weeks or are
you? None of us know when it will be our time to leave this earth; it
could be tonight, tomorrow or twenty years from now.
Perhaps you have some things you need to do?
In Him, "E"