The Grace of God Keeps Us Alive
A voice said, “Shout!â€
I asked, “What should I shout?â€
“Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the Lord.
And so it is with people.
The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever.
Isa. 40:6-8 (NLT)
Today, I am once again struck by physical health and its fragility. Also, I am always stunned by how sudden a life can end through sickness and tragedy.
Friday, I performed the funeral of beloved mother whose heart had failed during an open heart procedure. This weekend, I visited a relative in convalescent home who suffers from dementia and is housed with Alzheimer’s patients. Yesterday, I visited East End Hospital to pray for man who was dying from toxemia. Over the weekend, he complained of cramps. He did not suffer from any intestinal ailments. The doctors decided to do exploratory surgery. This morning during surgery, the doctors could not locate the intestinal leak. They expect him to pass today. Healthy on Friday, gone today.
Suddenly and without warning, our health can fail and our lives end with an incredible finality and speed that is shocking to friends and loved ones.
More than ever I am struck by the need to live a life that is right with God. Also, I am more aware than ever that there is judgment and that one day I will have must give an account to God for my life and choices. “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (2 Cor. 5:9-10 NLT).
Indeed, the most important thing in this life is to be right with God by trusting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
1 Cor. 3:11-13 (NLT)
The thoughts of many hearts were revealed by Christ on earth, and that same Christ shall make an open exhibition of men at the last great day. He shall judge them, he shall discern their spirits, he shall find out the joints and the marrow of their being; the thoughts and intents of the heart he shall lay bare.
C.H. Spurgeon, “The Great White Throne,” delivered August 12, 1866.