Dear Friends,
I write this letter with a short statement in my ears. As Chris left the service on Sunday morning he said “It’s gazette week this week.” I then realised that I should have written my letter last week. I thought I had, because I had written the Anniversary letter. Younger members of the congregation might say, “A senior moment, or two!”
That is quite possible, but it illustrates a very important fact of life. There are times when we think that we have done something, but in reality that happened much earlier and the responsibility has returned in its regular cycle. In other situations, we are guilty of procrastination, that is putting it off and promising that we will get round to it. I’m sure that many of us over the years have missed important birthdays; missed the date of the MOT, the car tax, the TV licence. The first may in fact cause damage to relationships, while the later examples might prove a little expensive to the wallet as we have to make the actual payment, but also the fine for not getting it done on time.
These illustrations actually point out a much more serious problem in that we can go through life realising that we must prepare for eternity, but giving priority to other seemingly important events. Many of us delude ourselves into thinking that we have time on our side. Others might think that we have nothing to fear since God is Love; Still others might think that this is all there is, so eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.
Scripture is clear that there is more to life than our physical existence here on earth. The death and resurrection of our Lord prove without doubt that death is not the end. Scripture teaches in a number of places that life continues beyond our physical existence and with that comes judgement, And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb. 9:27). Jesus was also very direct with people when he told his listeners the story of the farmer with a bumper crop. The man reasoned ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ He thought that he had plenty of time. God on the other hand said ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Lk 12:18-21). None of us likes to be called a fool, but that is the strength of Christ’s concern in this setting. People who make inadequate preparation for eternity are foolish, no matter how busy they are.
In the recent AECW Prayer Meeting at Malpas Road Meirion encouraged us from the early verses of Lk 18 and that section ends with the question, “ when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” He might find full barns as in the parable; he might find completed mortgages and fine houses. He might find well qualified citizens. He might even find many busy religious people, but will he find faith? Will people have understood the priorities of life? Will each of us have realised that while we have been doing this and doing that in actual fact we had overlooked the one essential priority of life.
The question in Lk 18:8 is so important, because again God makes it clear, without faith it is impossible to please him (God) (Heb 11:6). We can have great motives and labour tirelessly in good works, but if we fail to put in place the priority, which is repentance and faith in God then we will not have the embarrassment of realising that we failed to do a job, but we will have the crisis of knowing that we had not taken the benefits of the provision that God has made for us in Christ.
Probably a lot of us have started preparing for Christmas, the first coming of Christ; but let each of us ask ourselves, “Am I ready for the second coming of Christ?”
Warm regards,
Bernard Lewis, November 2011
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