One thing I learned from listening to people over the last few months while sheltering at home in this pandemic is that many of us are afraid to die. For many, there is no life after this earthly existence ceases. Sill many are lamenting what is happening in the world around them. Many have been walking around disbelieving that there is a loving God that desires to be part of their lives. They stop believing on the false premise that if there was a good God then bad things wouldn't happen to them.
Some stopped going to church decades ago, preferring instead to spend their Sundays sleeping in and watching the football games with a cold bottle of beer in their hand. As I read the holy scriptures, God's love letter to man, I see a living God who is still knocking on mankind's hearts. Occasionally, the knock is heard and Jesus enters in, but for others His knock goes unheard and Jesus leaves them alone. I'm reminded of these words from Isaiah, a old testament prophet, who relayed the message of the coming ChristIsaiah 53 New International Version (NIV)
53 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
If there is anyone who is suffering, depressed, in pain over this virus, I promise that if you receive Christ as your Savior and Lord that Jesus will come into your life to give you peace and strength to face the day to day stressors you may face. You will have the assurance that Jesus will walk beside you every day of your life and when life comes to a screeching halt, he will be there to bring you into everlasting place called heaven- a place where there will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more pain. You owe it to yourself to bow down and say these words to Jesus:
Lord Jesus, I need You. ... I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. If you say this prayer I assure you that your life will be filled with the ever lasting peace you could not find any other place.
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