#139 - Sunday Special (10/23) - "No One Is Guaranteed Tomorrow"

[As always on Sundays, I encourage you to watch the day's broadcast of "Truth That Transforms" (formerly "The Coral Ridge Hour"). [In Orlando, at 5 p.m. on channel 55.1]

"Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow." - Ps. 144:4
"Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." - Job. 14:4

Any day you check on the news, you read about someone dying - through a natural disaster, having been murdered, or because they are somehow famous. But last Sunday, when I heard about the death of the race car driver (I've never heard of) as a result of a racing crash, I remember being almost numbed and was not sure why. Has that ever happened to you?

Upon reflection, I've come to realize that Dan Wheldon's sudden death reminded me of the unpredictability of the length of our lives. Besides the verses I have noted above, I'm sure you could find dozens more throughout Scripture that say the same thing. In fact, you don't even have to go to God's Word to be reminded of that truth.

Several years ago, I was watching a crime drama. At the end of the episode, the lead dective (a Catholic) got up from his seat to leave a restaurant. As he did so, his companion casually said (as we probably would ourselves in such a
situation), "See you on Monday!" The detective suddenly turned around and looking at her soberly said, "No one is guaranteed tomorrow" and then he walked out. I was so
shocked, If I had been sitting in a chair I might have fallen to the floor. If I was watching with others, I would have surely yelled, "Did you hear that?!! Wow!" Rarely have I heard a more profound and eternally truthful statement on network television.

I remember having the same reaction as I had last Sunday when I heard that my 28-year old, atheltically fit co-worker had suddenly collapsed and died on the sidewalk while taking an after-dinner walk with his wife due to a blood vessel suddenly exploding in his brain due to a hemmorage. Several years ago, 2 middle school girls died in a car crash as one of their Moms was driving them home. Within the last year, a high school girl contracted an amoeba while swimming in a pond near her home and died several days later; and a girl in her first week of college suddenly became sick from an undetected conditioin while attending a party and died hours
later.

All these incidents (and others I'm sure you can recall)remind us of how none of us knows how much time we have before death claims us. To assume we do is the absolute height of arrogance and presumption. I remember many years ago when I was sitting on the curb of a parking lot of a community college sharing the gospel with a student. When I asked him if - based on what I had shared with him - he wanted to pray to receive Christ as his Savior and Lord, the student said (in effect), "No, I don't want to do it now. I think I'll wait till I'm older and close to dying." I
remember being so stunned by what he said that I responded by saying, "What are you saying?" Pointing to the cars driving out of the parking lot, I continued, "You don't even know you won't be killed in some accident today just trying to drive
out of this parking lot. How can you possibly know that you will live to a certain age?!!"

In lieu of the length of our lives being in God's hands, I would encourage you on two points:

1) When you share the gospel with someone, don't allow them to get away with saying that they want to do it "later." Challenge their presumptiveness, that no one can know how long they have to live, and that therefore, as Scripture says, ".. now is the day iof salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2b)

2) Have you or someone you know ever said, "I'll do somethig to serve God - like be a missionary - later in life." Well, once again, that is being truly esumptutious. To paraphrase 2 Cor. 6:2b "now is the day of service." As I told my church family the last Sunday I was there before heading overseas to serve as a missionary: "I'm going because that is where God wants me to go and serve now. YOU may not be called to go to serve somewhere overseas, but you are still a missioniary for Christ wherever you are. The nonbelievers around you are YOUR mission field. My calling is no greater than yours."

Sunday "Funny" (from MikeysFunnies.com):
"Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossip, Mary was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sarah was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old and Lazarus was dead. Now..... what's YOUR reason for thinking God won't use you?"