the business at hand

The Lord is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. Isaiah 26:21a



I'm not sure why those few words made such an impression on me this morning.

I read in 3 other places in the Bible - Psalms (of course!) 23, Mark 10, & Ephesians 5.

     There was a LOT of good stuff in each of those chapters - lots!


But here's the strong impression I got...

     One day, God will punish the people of the earth for their sins & rebellion.



I wonder if we have cast God in a role of something like a celestial grandfather,

     all warm & fuzzy - our "daddy God",

     all loving & accepting,

     all so intimate with us that we're just all snuggled up with Him.



And yes, God is the very embodiment of love - a love that is so infinite that it is unimaginable.

And yes, He longs for us to think of Him as a Father.

And yes, the relationship He offers us is the most intimate connection, that is beyond our comprehension.

And because of Jesus, access to God is limitless & completely unfettered.



But let's also remember some other things about God...

     He is so blindingly, infinitely, incomprehensibly HOLY.

     As a result, that incredible holiness CANNOT coexist with sin - talk about your ultimate, uber-incompatibility!

     Our minds are so finite that we cannot completely realize how the sins & rebellion of the people on earth are so thoroughly odious as well as & repugnant to Him.


Think of all the stuff people do - iow, think of all the sins people commit, all over the world, all the time.

I mean, some of it is more heinous than we can imagine, let alone comprehend.

Some of it is so subtle that we miss it.

And all of it is an affront to the holiness of the God of the universes.


Remember that God has offered us a way out from the well deserved punishment for any & all of these sins, because of Jesus.


But in the final analysis, there will come a day, sooner or later, when all the chickens will come home to roost.

iow, Jesus is gonna come back, and this age of rebellion & sin will come to an end.

And there's gonna be a whole lot of people who are going to have to stand butt naked before the high & holy God & take responsibility for that sinning.

And it's gonna be an infinitely frighteningly tragic experience for a stupendously enormous amount of people.

And these people, as a result, are going to be cut off from God, eternally - simply because sin & God cannot cohabitate.


God will not have to condemn them - their unforgiven sins will make it impossible for them to coexist with God.


So?


Then shouldn't we feel compelled to reach out to the gajillions of folks all around us & tell them God has made a way for them to connect with Him eternally?

Shouldn't we make it the ultimate priority of our lives to help people connect with God & find the connection through His grace & forgiveness that we know & live in?

Because, actually & fundamentally, if we don't, people are just gonna go slam to hell.

     hell is just a term for whatever the place of existence is for those not connected to God through faith & acceptance of Jesus' sacrifice.


And they will be there for eternity.


And eternity is a VERY long time.


We must tell people about Him.

We must show the love we've experienced from Him to those around us.

We have to tell them.

They have to know.

Because one day, all this is going to come to a spectacular climax.


Time is short - we must be about the business at hand - telling others what we know, what we have, & how they can receive it as simply as we have.