This week as I have been driving around I have been listening to the christian radio station and I heard a couple of things that really made me do some self-evaluation.One of the things that I heard was an atheist speaking concerning the fact that someone had try to share with him about Salvation. He said he didn't think badly of the person for doing so in fact he said "If he believes that after death you will face eternity either burning or in heaven, then how much must he hate you not to try to warn you about this" (This is not a direct quote, it is from my memory) . I have long been eager to tell others about the great gift that God has given us through Jesus Christ which is salvation but sometimes I can get pretty lax about actually doing anything. One thing is sure however, I don't hate anybody and I want everybody to go to heaven! I really need to get busy!
The other thing on the radio went along with that, it was simply a story of a girl who didn't really let her faith be known to the group she hung out with (A group that she felt had it all together) . A few years later she was convicted that she needed to tell them and tried to find one of them only to find out she had committed suicide. It was just a reminder that we shouldn't keep putting things off. We don't know when we will have another chance. I am not saying that we need to share the plan of salvation first thing upon meeting someone but I am saying that we shouldn't ignore the Holy Spirits prompting when we are led to share with someone. We also need to be looking for opportunities.
As a Christian I have been given an amazing gift but it is not just for me, it is for whoever wants it! Romans 6 describes the change that can happen and the gift we can receive beautifully:
"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
have been baptized into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death,
in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him,
that our body of sin might be done away with,
that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ,
We believe we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead,
is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all;
but the life He lives, He lives to God.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin,
But alive to God in Christ Jesus."
Romans 6:3-11
So.... Have you become united with Christ in his death? Were you buried with Him through baptism? Do you have a new life? Are you excited about rising with Him again someday?
If not.... Would you like to be? There is no better choice to make. Eternity depends on it.
