“The other day,” Stan commented one morning, “I was over in Spencerville to visit a pastor friend of mine.”
“Any particular reason?” I asked.
“Not really,” he replied. “I hadn’t seen him for some time and I wanted to get caught up with what’s going on in his life.”
“How’s it going?”
“Seems great. We went to lunch at a little cafe where my friend was able to share something with me about the menu of life and eternity.”
“The menu of life and eternity? What’s that?”
“Let me tell you what happened,” Stan replied. “After my friend and I sat down, I was looking at the menu to see what I wanted to order. There were some things on the menu I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting.”
“Like what?”
“A hamburger with four patties of meat, three different kinds of cheese, five slices of bacon, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I can’t imagine that anyone would ever want to order and eat such a thing.”
“You might be surprised,” I said with a smile.
“My friend said the same thing to me when I mentioned to him that eating such a cheeseburger doesn’t seem like a real good idea. That’s when he went on to talk about the menu of life and eternity from something Jesus said.”
“What’s Jesus say?” I asked. “And please don’t tell me He was taking about cheeseburgers!”
Stan laughed and said, “No, Jesus didn’t talk about cheeseburgers, but He did talk about something that doesn’t seem like a real good idea.”
“What?”
“It’s in Luke’s gospel,” Stan replied, “where Jesus told the people that they were going to perish if they didn’t repent. By implication, it seems to me that Jesus was telling them that perishing isn’t a real good thing to do.”
“If it’s not good for people to perish,” I said, “why would they choose that rather than repenting?”
“It’s just like ordering and eating something like that cheeseburger,” Stan replied. “It seems so obvious that it’s not real good for a person, but some people don’t know that, some people don’t believe that, and some people don’t care. It tastes real good to them and they will deal with the consequence later.”
“Yeah,” I said, “but how does a person deal with the consequence of perishing? That’s kind of the end of the road, isn’t it?”
“It seems that way to me,” Stan replied. “It also seems that’s a good reason to tell everyone we can about the eternal consequences of not repenting. Give them the opportunity to choose something else!”
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Bible verses to consider:
I tell you . . . unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:5.
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. Mark 1:15.
And they (the twelve) went out and preached that men should repent. Mark 6:12.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for repentance so I could turn from where I was to you and accept your free and gracious provision of life eternally in your presence. Thank you for those who brought me that truth. I confess that too often I don’t tell others about the eternal consequences of being separated from you. Please forgive me for not doing what I can to help them know the truth. Help me follow every step of your lead so I do tell everyone I can about the reality of eternal perishing. Thank you that I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you repented and accepted God’s free and gracious provisions of life eternally with Him? If no, why would you choose to perish rather than turn to God and His provision? Have you considered what it means to “perish” for all of eternity? If you are a Christian with the assurance of salvation and redemption, how are you doing with telling others the eternal consequences of not repenting and turning to God? If you sense the need for change in any of this, how is that change going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 