Great Mistake

I and a friend had just finished having a snack at a local restaurant late one afternoon. As I was travelling toward my home I suddenly found myself in a bad traffic jam. I picked up my cell phone and called my friend to warn him of what he was headed for, and not to come this way. It was nice to have the ability to warn my friend so he wouldn't end up as I had. In the book of Luke and chapter 16 I find something that reminds me of that afternoon except that the warning needed to go out but couldn't. We read of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus who also had a body full of sores. If we take the time to look at them both and could choose which one we would we like to be, I think most of us would choose the Rich Man. Who wants to be sick and a beggar too! But if we look more closely at the story we would soon change our minds. As the story goes both of these men died; that is what will happen to us all. But here is where things change, the Rich man who had all the things this world could offer is now in a world that he has no control over. His wealth is no good here, why he can't even get one drop of water. But Lazarus who was sick and had nothing is now well and doing very good. The Rich man sees his great mistake and now wants someone to go warn his family and tell them not to come where he is.
I have five brothers. "Let him warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment." No cell phone there; he knew where they were headed but he couldn't get word to them. Abraham responds that they already have the Bible, God's Word, to warn them. The rich man answers, "If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." It's clear that this man who knows what eternity away from God is like is desperate for others to know what they're headed for, which our Bible already makes clear. Based on this amazing inside information of what's ahead, the sobering truth for all of us is this: If every living person knew now what every departing soul discovers, we would all run to Jesus to save us. But we can know now. That's why the Bible repeatedly describes what only God could describe - the awful eternal consequences for our rebellion against our Creator. Anybody who speculates on what happens after we are dead is guessing. God knows. The Bible says that every one of us has defied the order of the universe by, in essence, saying to God, "You run the universe and I'll run me, thank you." And we've taken our life where we wanted it to go, done what we wanted to do, and then maybe we've tried to pacify God with a little religion that in no way can pay the death penalty for a lifetime of disobeying God. But in the greatest act of love in history, Jesus as the Bible says

1Peter 2:24 -
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

God's Son did all the dying for all our sinning. He took your hell so you could have His heaven if you grab Him in total faith as your personal Rescuer from your sin and its penalty. But you have to give yourself to Him. The consequences of not doing it are unthinkable but they're very real. Anyone who's ever gone into eternity without Christ knows that, but it's too late to change it then. It's not too late for you right now. God is giving you this opportunity; the only one you can be totally sure of. This is your guaranteed opportunity to trust His Son. Right where you are, would you tell Him, "Jesus, I abandon my control of my life. I'm giving myself to you as my Rescuer - my only hope." If that's what you want, you're ready to begin your relationship with Him to be forgiven, to change your eternal address; I sure hope so. Why don't you stop what you are doing and see if you are headed for a traffic jam!