Spiritual Well-Being by Angus Buchan pt 9

 

Redeem your time

........I’m about to phone a young girl who’s very ill with a terminal disease. She wants to talk to me and I’m very honoured. As I prepare my heart to speak to her, I’m thinking about life and death.

The Bible tells us that life is but a vapour, here today, gone tomorrow. We tend to spend too much time preparing for this brief life we live on earth and no time at all for eternal life. As I speak to this young girl, obviously I’ll be believing for a miracle in her life, that God will heal her.

But if God chooses to take her Home, then she needs to be ready. I know she’ll have thought about this many times. When you aren’t well you have lots of time to think about the ‘hereafter’.

But we all need to be thinking along the same lines. We need to start counting the cost, and ask ourselves a serious question: where are we putting our effort? Jesus says very clearly: “Where a man’s heart is, that is where his treasure lies.” I challenge you to speak more about eternal life and about our Heavenly Home. The Bible also tells us not to say that there are four months and then the harvest, but that we must ‘lift up our eyes and look at the fields which are white unto harvest.’ John 4:35. We need to be more passionate in telling people about Jesus Christ. Unless someone is born again, they’ll never see the Kingdom of God.

I had the privilege of conducting a funeral service a short while ago in our church on the farm. I preached the gospel and gave people the opportunity to get their lives right for eternal life. A week or two later, I received a letter from a person who accused me of ‘hijacking’ the service for my own benefit. My heart weeps for people who, like this soul, are in fact searching for the truth. The crux of the matter is that the only way to the Father and our eternal life is through Jesus John 14:6 You and I can never convert a person, only the Holy Spirit can do that. However, we have to preach the gospel and give them an opportunity to put their lives right because life is so short. Redeem your time. ......................................................................................................................

When we change our priorities we’ll see life has a lot more meaning and is alot more exciting. When I phone this young lady in a few minutes, I’ll ask her about her relationship with Jesus and then I’ll pray for her and encourage her with the scripture in Philippians 1:21: “For me to live is Christ, but for me to die is but gain.” You cannot frighten a Christian with heaven.