Bible

[excel]

The Bridge Christian Fellowship
The Pastor’s Pen
Steve Farnworth


I awakened this past Monday morning to a flurry of Facebook posts sent by my daughter, Stephanie. In these posts were words like “firestorm,” “evacuation.” “devastation,” and “horrifying.” I immediately phoned her and listened in stunned disbelief as she told me of the multiple fires that were consuming the various neighborhoods of Santa Rosa, California, where she, her husband, and four children live.
Safely evacuated in the early morning hours of Monday, they have been living at her husband’s parent’s home since. Her and her husband’s house was still standing as of yesterday, yet, just a half a block away, an entire neighborhood was consumed. Continued high winds and yet to be contained fires make it unsafe for Stephanie and her family to return home at this time.
Think about it. They went to bed at 11:00PM on Sunday night with the thought, “all is well.” By 1:00AM Monday, they were experiencing the nightmare of flames driven by 50 mile-an-hour winds, smoke clogged air, and streets littered with downed trees, power lines, and abandoned cars. In just two short hours, the lives of thousands of people were changed. More than 180,000 acres consumed, 3500 homes destroyed, entire business districts lost, 25+ people perished, and hundreds of folks missing and unaccounted for.
I am reminded of the words spoken by the apostle James: “Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone” (James 4:13,14 (NLT).
Did you catch that last sentence? “Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Our lives here on earth are fragile. Like the morning fog, they can disappear in a moment. And with them go our dreams, aspirations, goals and plans.
As certain as the fragility of our lives on earth is the reality of that which follows this earthly experience. You and I can do nothing to alter this life’s fragility, but we can, in simple, childlike faith, totally and eternally alter our future experience following the conclusion of our time on earth. Look at the words that Jesus spoke to Nicodemus in John chapter three. “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son (John 3:16-18 (NLT).
Because of the devastating effects of our sin, you and I live in a flawed, unpredictable, and messed-up world. Jesus did not come to judge; judgment had already been meted out by Almighty God with the sentence of eternal separation from God. No, Jesus came to die in our place, taking upon Himself all of God’s wrath against our sin, and provided a way by which we, sinful, disobedient people, could be reunited with God in eternal fellowship. “God made Him, who knew no sin, to become our sin, so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Romans 5:8.
My sin debt has been paid in full; all it takes to apply this payment in my life is to believe that Jesus died in my place, was buried, and rose again, thus destroying sin’s authority over my life and setting me free to live a life pleasing unto God, my Father. And the same is true for you, friend. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).
The unpredictable tragedies of this life are horrifying and devastating, and most often, you and I can do nothing to prevent them. May I encourage you to exercise your faith, place it in Jesus the Lord, and make certain your future home in heaven?