Have you noticed yet, the older you become, the more quickly time seems to pass you by?  In your youth, a year seems a sizable slice of forever, but as an ancient, it passes like a dream.  For the moment it seems endless, but in the morning, when the senses are awakened, alas, ‘twas only a passing thought in the night.  The Word of God asks, “For what is your life?,” and answers, “It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14)”

  To be sure, most approach the end of life with knowledge and experience gained along the way, and their treasure trove still seems new, exciting and sufficient, even for these waning years.  But eventually, when our old stuff is applied to the challenges of life in this new and ever changing age, it seems diminished, along with our body’s ability to deliver.  Our prime has passed; the sunset years have arrived, and all of time is short.  My point?  You don’t have much time here, make it count.

  Perhaps you have wondered, “Is this all there is?”  “Is there nothing left when my heart grows too tired to continue, when my next breath seems to be approaching my last?”  The Biblical answer is that all is not lost even in death, IF you are prepared.  You see, “…the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)  As living souls, at the end of life as we know it, there will be life as we have not known it.  God promises a resurrection of the just and of the unjust.  The just will be raised to live in His eternal presence and the unjust to eternal damnation, as a result of sin.  God is holy and requires holiness of His creatures, but since we have all sinned and separated ourselves from God, He had to devise a plan whereby He might justify (declare righteous), the unjust:  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).”  “…as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12).

  “If you think that’s bad, you ought to ride in MY truck.”  This is what one man said, several years ago, when he took a ride in my old pickup truck.  It was not something that you would notice right away, but there was this little vibration at around 40 mph that became more irritating to me with every mile.  When my mechanic agreed that it seemed like a drive shaft problem, we decided to “rebuild” and balance the shaft.  A couple of days and dollars later the new drive shaft was installed, and I took it out for test drive. The truck would still tickle my innards at about 40 mph.  The vibration was still there.

  I don’t know who felt worse about it, me or my mechanic.  He called about three days later and said, “Hey, bring that truck back over here, I want to know what’s wrong with it.”  After a couple more hours of head scratching, he discovered the problem and in a matter of minutes, I was humming down the highway with a big smile.  Years have passed since then, and the old truck is long gone, but when I think back on this incident, I am still grateful that my mechanic took a personal interest in my problem.

  Christian friend, you and I are surrounded by individuals who know that something is not quite right with their lives.  Though they can’t exactly put their finger on it, things seem out of balance and their daily trek is anything but pleasant and peaceful.  Most of them will live their lives a little out of sorts, and step into eternity without God.  Their diagnosis is clearly set forth in the Scriptures—sin has separated them from God.  But you and I have found the solution to their problem; Jesus Christ died for their sins, and rose from the dead victorious over it.  He lives to make intercession for them.  He is all that is necessary for your friends, neighbors and family to put their lives in order.  Don’t you think it’s time for us to take a personal interest, and tell them?

  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).    Jesus said, “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b).”

  Daniel Webster (1782-1852) was an early American politician who served in both houses of Congress, was Secretary of State for three presidents, helped to settle a dispute over the boundary between Maine and Canada, was a renowned orator, and a prominent lawyer who presented numerous arguments before the Supreme Court.  He was, over the course of his career, a member of the Federalist Party, the National Republican Party and the Whig Party; a diverse man, but one who certainly understood the underpinnings of our nation.  He, like many of the early American patriots was a God fearing man who is claimed, on the pages of unrevised history, by various denominational churches as one of their own.

  In spite of his religious moorings, Daniel Webster was not always on the conservative side of political issues.  He was a man who was both praised and criticized from all sides.  Whatever you might think of this colorful patriot, true historical narrative bears out the fact that his words were the sentiment of many, perhaps most, of his political predecessors and peers when he said, “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

  We have entered a new chapter in the continuing saga of life on earth.  In this generation, as never before, there is a global falling away from the eternal, universal, divine principles established by God in the beginning.  Right and wrong are constantly being redefined to accommodate personal whims and faddish philosophies.  Our nation, and most, are divided against themselves.  Even to the untrained eye, we seem destined to ruin, or, as Daniel Webster described it, to “profound obscurity.”

  But God says, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

 Back in June of 2007, a U.S. senator from Illinois said, “Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation—at least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation and a nation of nonbelievers.”  This is the man who, just two years later, would become the President of the United States of America, and serve for two terms, leading our republic even further into spiritual darkness.  He is a man who mocks truth as found in non-revisionist, honest history.  He mocks the Bible and its distinctly Christian foundational principles and precepts that were chosen by our founding fathers to be used as building blocks for our constitutional republic.  But he was right, we are no longer a Christian nation. 

  And why? It is because we carnal American Christians have, for decades, shirked our responsibilities to pass our Christian heritage on to our families, friends and neighbors; it is because we have stood by silently as evil has blinded the minds of the masses.  These are the reasons we now stand on the threshold of total apostasy as a nation.  We have spurned the grace of God, and have provoked the Almighty to judgment.

  Is it possible to reverse this moral, social and political carnage?  Is there still time?  Truth is, it is not a matter of time, but of the will.  God once said to a nation of repeat offenders, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)”  It is up to us fourth and fifth generation, lazy, lukewarm, ignorant children of God, to shape up.  The unsaved will continue to act unsaved, and no political party or philosophy that they can muster will be able to deliver us.  What our nation, and the world, needs is Jesus Christ, and everything He taught and preserved for us in the Bible.  Mockers will mock because they are blind to the spiritual truth that could set them free, so it is up to you and me to win them to our Savior, one at a time.  He is our ONLY hope.  “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD! (Psalm 33:12)”

  My mother tells the story of how, as a little girl, she had a playmate over.  The two of them were playing around her father’s woodpile when she noticed the axe stuck in the top of the chopping block.  My mom proceeded to work the axe out of the block, and invited her little friend to extend her finger over the block, assuring her that she would “chop it off.”  Without a moment’s hesitation her friend laid her finger on the block, and my mom chopped it off.  Both girls were horrified as they realized what they had done.  Almost every time this story was told in my youth, someone would offer, “Well, I guess you gave her a fair warning.”  But, fair warning or not, it still makes me cringe to think of it, and I often wonder, how could anyone be so careless, so thoughtless, as these two little girls?

  But then I am reminded that I am surrounded by people who, with that same carefree, foolhardy, willful ignorance, refuse to consider the “fair warning” that has been issued by the Almighty.  God has clearly stated, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)”  And those who will not heed His warning and make ready, “…shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (2 Thessalonians 1:9)”  There is so much more at risk here than losing a finger.  Won’t you consider God’s warning?

  Perhaps you would answer, “Why would God, if there is a God, send people to eternal destruction in Hell?”  If you will read His Word, the Bible, you will start to understand the seriousness of sin.  You will see God as loving, merciful and gracious, but also just, righteous and holy.  It is more than can be disclosed in a little article such as this, but God has not left you to ignorance; His Word is sufficient to illuminate the path that leads to His eternal presence.

  But don’t take my word for it; read it for yourself and you will see, “…the word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)”