July 30, 2011 No Next Time

No Next Time
Read Ezekiel 21

Ezek 21:6-7 “Therefore groan, son of man! Groan before them with broken heart and bitter grief. 7 And when they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you shall say, ‘Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt and every hand go limp; every spirit will become faint and every knee become as weak as water.’ It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

I KNOW, you probably didn’t open this reading to hear of God’s promise of doom. There are plenty of predictions and “assurances” of destruction and collapse in the morning’s news. Who needs more?
Actually, I think we all need “more” to pay attention to these absolute truths: God judges. And God saves.
If we don’t believe the judging truth, then we have no reason to seek the saving truth. How many times as a child did you try to avoid your parents’ warnings of “judgment”? You tested them, didn’t you? You thought they really wouldn’t punish you for disobeying.
But when they did act on their warnings and punished you, you knew they were right and you were wrong. Next time you paid attention. And the next time when you obeyed you were saved from punishment.
What the world, and we, must realize is this: there will be a time when there’s no “next time” with God.
He has warned us for centuries that he will come to a final day of judgment. And he has given to us for centuries the opportunity to be saved from that judgment.
We must trust the judging truth and come to the saving truth. One day we will not get another chance.


Pause and Consider: the reality of no more chances to say, “I’m sorry.”