So we accept the Christian Bible as the authority. If we accept the finish line as being in God’s Presence, then we need to ask, “where are we now?”, and, “How do we get to the correct finish?” In developing a strategic business plan it is often helpful to look back through the ‘keyhole’ from the finish to the start. If we do this from the perspective of God’s Presence, we see that we need to be perfect in every way. Now, for myself, I must confess, “I’m not perfect in my own right”. Does this mean I must accept ‘hell’ as my eternal fate? Can I ever hope to get to heaven? Certainly not by my own resources. There is absolutely no way I can make myself perfect, and therefore get into God’s Presence. And neither can you or anyone else. Near-enough is not close-enough to good-enough! But there is the free gift of ‘perfection’, and the resulting goal of being in God’s Presence.
On the cross at Calvary, nearly 2000 years ago, Jesus paid the price that removed all our imperfections and allowed us to go directly into God’s Presence. Though ‘religion’ will tell you that if you “crawl up 1000 steps on your knees, whilst whipping yourself with olive branches, and you say the mystical words of God a million times over whilst balancing on your head, rubbing your tummy with your left hand and the soles of your feet at the same time with your right hand, ………. and a partridge in a pear tree!” Our motorist did not accept the free gift of ‘good news’, he did it ‘his way’.
Once you have chosen God’s Presence to be your final destination, and accepted the perfection offered by Jesus to get there, would you want to stay perfect, or deliberately choose imperfection again? We have a book of instructions for our own good, not to make us perfect, but to be a guide to staying perfect, with a lot of help from God! These are our Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth (B.I.B.L.E.). Read your Bible! And talk with Jesus! (Pray). Jesus said that if you have your gift of going into God’s Presence, keep the pollution of hell off it!
Often people will nod assent to what you say but will procrastinate. Tomorrow will be soon enough to give up this drunken orgy. But in the ‘days of Noah’, the people were told that they were to be destroyed, unless they believed God. For one hundred years they were told, but they continued with their lives; running businesses, getting married, having families. But the day came when it was too late to believe and act, and they were completely and utterly destroyed. Will that day come next year, next week, tomorrow, or maybe today? Will it be too late for you, your family, your friends, neighbours, acquaintances, indeed everyone, to have the opportunity of enjoying life in God’s Presence for all eternity, especially now?
Tragically, not many have been told the simple truth, and few take the time these days to contemplate 5 minutes, let alone eternity. Don’t go rushing past the warning signs. Don’t speak a foreign language to a doomed man. Don’t waste the perfection given by Jesus. Tell your loved ones the good news.
And the ‘good news’ is: Jesus has saved you, now you can live life to the full!