Each Day

Life continues and each day brings additional newness and unexpected events. God has not revealed tomorrow or the next day but we know that the future is in His hands. There is so much that we don’t know, yet the Lord of glory, who created all and holds all within His hands, has not revealed to us all there is to know about tomorrow. Let’s go on with a trust in Him.

If you are like me, each day is something that we must commit to God and serve Him with a true heart. Since we don’t know what will happen tomorrow, we must commit it to God and trust that He will work all of this out according to His will.

I suppose that there are about 7 billion people on earth and each of these is totally oblivious to what will lie ahead. Most of these will rest in this false security. They will (wrongly) assume that if they merely remain in the condition where they are and live a consistent life, they will be accepted by whatever Deity is out there. A few of these think that they know the true God and wrongly believe that if they work for Him, then their “God” will accept them when their life is over. Some work and “hope for the best” by serving “God” and seeking to do His will. Alas, you and I both know that most of these are totally mistaken and deceived about who God is, who Christ Jesus is, what they must do or believe to be pleasing to God. They live from day to day with some trust that the Lord will hear and respond to their best efforts.

Yet you and I know that nearly all of these people are dreadfully wrong. Yes, they are mistaken and deceived. The day will come when they will tragically die and abruptly they will discover that all of their efforts and beliefs were wrong. They spent their life with wrong ideas, wrong views, wrong beliefs, and wrong ideas. But they will be wrong—and then it will be too late. We cannot undo what we have done. Even when we try to do the right, we are wrong and may do the wrong. This is the message of Scripture, as a good study of the Word of God will show.

I don’t know if any of this has “sunk into your heart” or not. But this sort of truth is something that shocks me to the core and helps me to understand Christ’s words about our relationship with God. All of this makes me realize the truth of our Lord’s words:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

Read over those words again and you may find them just as concerning as I do!

At best, we may live until we are 100 but probably many of us will live to age 70 or 80, and some may live many years less. What can we do now to prepare to meet Christ that Day that will inevitably come? If we are here for another 1,000 years or 10,000 years or a million years, we may face the future with concern and with trepidation. After all, if we live and die and face God one day, what about the fact that most (nearly all) people will not be prepared but will think that they are prepared. And this is not “good enough.” And you I know that if we fail to enter into the kingdom while we are alive, it will be too late then There is no “second chance” but we must face our future with some preparation. If we would live another 100 years or a million years, then we could say that we will have “another chance” (as many reincarnationists think), but if we only have one single time of preparation this makes our time here utterly crucial, doesn’t it!

This shoes the importance of living now in light of eternity! If you knew that after your brief time in this life on earth were all there was (which is actually true), hopefully we would prepare now for what lies ahead!

But what lies ahead? If we read and accept the Bible as true, then we know something about the future. We know that after this life, we will face God in judgment. We will give an account for the way we have used (or misused) this life. Are you presently preparing for what lies ahead? I ask this in all seriousness. We think that we are prepared but you and I both know that most of us are not prepared. Most of us must come before God and gave an account. If there were 1,000 people on earth and, say, 995 are not prepared, what of the remaining people? But if we believe the Bible, we know that this is true (even though God has not revealed anything about precise number).

Scripture says, “Prepare to meet your God,” and I would encourage you to take this to heart now. Our time here on earth is so brief that we must face the future with God with utter seriousness. If you were to know that your life was nearly at an end, wouldn’t you prepare with much more interest and diligence? I dare say that this would be our intensive study and preparation. We would realize that we have only a short time thus we must use this time with great diligence and serious preparation.

Let us do this, beloved! Let us realize that our life could be snuffed out any time. In light of this, let us make preparation now for the future. Let us turn from all idleness and carelessness. Let us face the future with help from God our Creator. Do what you can now—before our life slips away—and make changes if they can be made. This is my earnest plea to you! May God help and bless us and enable us to prepare now, while we can, for tomorrow may never come!

–Richard Hollerman