Appointment with the repo man.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."   Matthew 24:36-44 (NIV)

I just finished reading a really good Christian thriller on my Nook called "Scream" by Mike Dellosso.  The thought of a horror or thriller-type book that is Christian makes me kinda chuckle, but it was really good and I couldn't wait to finish it.  It had a very strong message concerning our salvation and knowing whether you will end up in heaven or hell.  How living like a Christian doesn't mean you are one and that you will go to heaven.  So as I was thinking of something to write, I couldn't quit thinking about this book...and how we never know what day will be our last.  We absolutely have to be ready at any given moment for our "appointment with the repo man," as Dellosso puts it. 

A while back I had a youth ask me what they should tell a friend who had questioned Christianity and salvation and about how they kinda wanted to live a certain way and then LATER make that salvation decision.  Although it may work out for some people like that, it's not practical to believe that you can put off accepting Christ until you're good and ready. 

First of all, accepting Christ has to be REAL.  God knows whether your heart is in the process.  You can say the words to accept Christ fifty times, but if they sincerely aren't heartfelt, He knows this.  You cannot fake accepting Christ.  You can't do it.  We cannot fool God.  We can't hide our true feelings from him.  Sometimes it is sort of planned, say if you decided, okay, I want to get saved at church today in front of my church family; as long as your heart is in it, cool.  But a lot of times, it is a spontaneous moment.  Maybe something that's been gnawing at your heart, and you've been pushing it aside until you hear that one thing that breaks you down and you give in.  Awesome.  (Those are some of the best moments to share with someone!)

I've never read anywhere in the bible that your life plan should follow something like this:   Okay, I will live like I want through high school and college (fast and furious), find someone to marry, continuing to live life my way, and eventually, when I've decided it's time to settle down and be serious, THEN I'll accept the Lord into my heart, start attending and serving a church, and live like a Christian.  Sounds peachy, but tell that perfect little life plan to someone who has lost a loved-one suddenly, without warning, without a moment to do that one thing they were waiting until later to do.

The second thing is that if setting a date for our salvation was the way it was supposed to be, can you imagine how people would be living?  Haha, maybe like most of the world already, I guess.  But just thinking in my small community, if everyone was living wildly, without any morals, rules or compassion for others, smothered in deceit and corruption, boy, wouldn't that be a wonderful community to raise a family in?!  I know I'm naive and my little world is not perfect, but I would like to think that it could certainly be a LOT worse if most people truly didn't care at all.  We aren't supposed to know when our time is up because if we did, a lot of us would choose to live a very careless/carefree and selfish lifestyle.

God has given us the free will to make the choice for ourselves.  Salvation is free.  It doesn't cost us a single penny.  Jesus already paid the debt for us...for ALL of us.  We just have to make the choice.  Don't be afraid to make that choice.  Don't worry about things that you will have to 'give up' to accept Jesus.  You will be gaining so much more than you will ever lose.  We don't know, and we're not supposed to know, when our time here is done.  We just have to be prepared.   Read that scripture again, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the one standing in the field alone.