An  announcement was made yesterday which surprised me.  One of my late husband’s friends was found in his yard.  How he died has not been determined.  He was a former Ag Director and TV personality.  I knew him, but not as well as my husband.  I believe he was 56 years of age.

Sometimes surprises come to us in our lives when we least expect them.  All the more reason to live a faithful life in Him and for Him.  We never know what a day may bring forth.

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”      Proverbs 27:1

And though we don’t want to think of death, it is sure.  …and then what?  If we die out of Christ, we will spend eternity without Him, and live with Satan.  If we are in Him, and unfaithful.  We will be no better off than the unsaved.  … but when we die and are faithful children to Him,  we will spend eternity with Him.  It’s a very sobering thought, and one which has to be faced in this life.  We are not here to stay.  We will spend eternity somewhere.  It’s up to us to make the choice.

I hear many times people speaking of all they will do in retirement, but I have lost count of people who lived for their retirement packages, which were never enjoyed, for sickness, accidents and death came when least expected.

There is nothing wrong in planning for a rainy day, being frugal and watching finances, but we are not to focus too much on the financial.  We are to set our “affection on things above.”

“Set Your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”   Colossians 3:2

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”    James 4:14

There is another day coming which will come suddenly and without warning.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;  in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and Godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”
II Peter 3:10-12

Regardless whether we suddenly die without warning, or if we are still alive when He returns.  Whatever condition our soul is at death, will not, and cannot be changed.

“And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table:  moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom:  the rich man also died, and was buried;  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;  for I am tormented in this flame.  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things:  but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed:  so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot;  neither can they pass  to us from thence.”    Luke 16:20-26

Now the question.  Where will you spend eternity?

“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”     Matthew 13:43

Eileen Light

Have you ever given consideration to where you will spend eternity? At some point we will all die. Then what? “And it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:27-28

God’s Word gives us a pattern of how to get to heaven and it is up to us to study His Word so that we may know what that pattern is.

God destroyed the world the first time by a flood. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.” Genesis 6:5-6, but then as we look down into verse 8 we find, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” and as you continue reading on through verses 11-14 you will read, “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” As you read on in the account of the flood in verses 14-21 you will find the pattern that God gave Noah in order to be saved from the flood. The last verse of Chapter six tells us “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Noah obeyed and he and his family were saved alive. Noah followed the pattern God gave him.

Obedience to God’s plan of salvation set forth in the book of Acts is essential to our salvation. It’s not what I think, you think or anyone else thinks. It is up to us to make that choice, to read His plan for salvation and follow the pattern.

“You know what life is truly? You’re born, you live, you eat. You walk around in a circle for awhile and you buy clothes and you die. Anything I missed? Isn’t that just about it? But that soul lives on…..”

David Harris

Where will you spend eternity……..?

Eileen Light