There will always be things in our future that we do not look forward to,but we must prepare for those moments. For example, those of us who live in the Midwest know that we must prepare for the winter.
Oh, how I dread winter each and every year. The days are short, the sun seems so far away and the bitterly cold wind blows. I have a difficult time emerging from under my electric blanket in the morning and loathe wearing long pants and bulky clothing. The dark, dreary days and the bitterly cold wind get harder and harder to tolerate each year. Don’t even mention the “s” word (you know, that white stuff that looks all pretty falling from the sky but makes the roads slick and the floors muddy).
I am definitely a summer girl! I love wearing dresses, seeing the sun shine and feeling the warmth radiate down to my bones. Summer means blue skies, sheets on the clotheslines, watermelon, Popsicles, lemonade, flip flops, fireflies, green leaves, bright sunshine and fresh air. Life is good in the summer, and I am happy, happy, happy!
However, no matter how much I want summer to last forever, winter always comes. I can either prepare for winter or live in denial and get a rude awakening.
The signs arrive every year. The grass begins to die. The leaves on the trees start to change color and then fall to the ground. Winter clothes appear in window displays. Christmas lights are hung all around town. Snowplows and children wait for the first snowflake to fall. Some things, we cannot change.
The most important thing we cannot change is the fact that we are not here on earth forever. Our bodies wear out, and eventually our hearts stop beating. For some of us that comes slowly; for others, this comes suddenly and unexpectedly. We don’t like to think about these things, but we must be prepared for that day.
When we die, we do not simply cease to exist forever. We each have an eternal destination. For those who choose to accept Jesus as Lord, that destination is heaven. For those that do not accept Jesus as Lord, that destination is hell. The choice is ours.
I do not say this to judge or condemn. I say this out of love. You see, God is holy, and sin separates us from Him. The penalty for sin is death. We have all sinned, and we all deserve death. The good news is that Jesus died on the cross in our place and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. If we accept His gift of salvation and commit our lives to following Him, our slate is wiped clean. We can stand before God because we have accepted the gift of salvation through Jesus.
The Bible says in Romans 14:11 “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” Jesus is Lord whether we accept it or not. Those who decide to surrender their lives on earth to Jesus and follow His ways will receive the gift of eternal life with Him in heaven. Sadly, those who choose to reject Jesus and His ways during their life on earth, will not be allowed to enter but will be cast into eternal punishment in hell.
Just as God wants no one to perish but all to repent and be saved (2 Peter 3:9), I too cannot bear the thought of anyone being separated from God and cast into eternal punishment. Just as we know that winter is coming, we also know that death is coming. Each of us will one day find ourselves face-to-face with God and each of us will confess him as Lord. If we wait until that day, it will be too late.
As we prepare for winter and prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we must also make sure that we and those we love are prepared for the day that we will meet God face-to-face.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). That’s what Christmas is all about. God sent His Son to die for us so that we could have eternal life with Him in heaven. We must accept this gift so we will be prepared, and we must share this Good News with others so that they too can be prepared.