No Excuses
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:11-15.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:16-18.
CareerBuilder.com has recently conducted a survey about workers being late to work. Thirteen percent of workers surveyed said they were late once a week. Twenty-five percent of the workers they surveyed said that they were late to work at least once a month. Twenty percent of those who said they were late to work also said that they make up excuses and lie to their supervisor if necessary to justify their being late. A quarter of the late workers blamed traffic conditions, but many said they had just overslept. Here are some of the excuses workers surveyed said that they had used are:
Ran over a goat.
Dreamed that they had been fired and so they just stayed in bed.
Made it to the office and then realized still in pajamas and went home to change clothes into something more appropriate.
Stopped for a sandwich and while there the store was robbed. Police officers made them stay for questioning.
A bee flew in the car window and attacked them. They then had to stop the car.
Realized that the tie they were wearing was inappropriate and had to wait for stores to open to buy a different tie.
According to the survey, many of the supervisors accepted excuses offered for being late without question.
Our Heavenly Father is unlike human supervisors. He is through Jesus Christ a God of great mercy and the invitation is to all to receive Christ as their Savior. “For God so loved the world….” He did not just love part of the world but all those who have lived, are living, and will be living on this planet. He loved us so much that His only Son suffered and died on the cross for our sins. The Bible has many statements or invitations from God to accept His mercy. The Bible closes out in Revelation 22 with one last invitation, “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17).”
God has done everything that can be done to provide mercy for humanity. He has done everything except make up your mind for you. He will not force you to accept Jesus as your Savior. He loves you and died for you through Jesus but it is up to you to determine your eternal destiny. He cannot do it for you. Sadly, some day the opportunity for salvation and eternal life will come to an end. Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel of John chapter 3 and verses 17 and 18 that it is not God that will condemn those who have not accepted His great invitation. No, it is those who decide by their not accepting His great invitation that condemn themselves. As Jesus says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
There will come a day when all who have rejected Christ by their failure to chose Him will have to stand before the great white throne. It will be a day when no excuses will be allowed. The Book of Life will be searched for the person’s name and when it is not found they will be “cast into the lake of fire.” There will be no excuses allowed on that day.
If you have not received Christ Jesus as your personal Savior – I plead with you to do so before it is everlastingly too late. Remember, some day it will be too late, and your eternity will all depend on what you have done with the precious Son of God. Have you believed or not?
(There will come a day when no excuses will be allowed as to whether you know or do not know Jesus as your personal Savior.)