If Today Was The Day....

We wake up one morning and the Lord decided that He was going to let us know that this was the day that He was fixing to begin judgment on this earth in accordance to what was written in the book of Revelation.  There is no doubt that this is for real because let's say that the Lord showed Himself to you and you cannot deny who it was nor the message He brought you.  He tells you that this will begin right at sundown and when the people in this nation wake up tomorrow the world will be totally different than the world that they knew the day before. Many would die over night.  For those that believe in pre-trib rapture that means those not ready will be left and for those that believe in post-trib then you know that it's fixing to get really bad.  I don't want this to be a debated thing on eschatology so please just get the point!  

Basically this means that in 12 hours that's it.  We are at the point of no return if you will.  This would be the time when it was to late for many and hell awaits.  This would be the time when many who thought they were sheep would learn that they were in fact only a goat.  This would be the day when all that horrible stuff we read of in Revelation begins...  would it be giant hail falling and crushing people first?  Perhaps some great and horrible plague that wiped out a third of the population of earth?  Maybe a meteor or something dramatic like that slamming into the earth?  Regardless...  it's going to bring much death.

I suspect that we might spend a little extra time reflecting on our own lives but then we're on the right path.  But so many others aren't.  We know them and we have been either silent or even maybe just patient in trying to let our lifestyle be more a testimony than speaking to them.  We've worked hard at not judging them so it gets a bit dicey here because to point out that they are in trouble means that we judge them and we're constantly reminded not to be judgmental.  Now we have this problem though because this is it.  It's not even about lack of patience now...  it's about time is up.  They are friends and I really do love them.  My family members too.  They know I am a Christian and I recall the times I have spoken to them about Christ but they sort of roll their eyes and I just laugh and then change the topic to something less intrusive.  No need to offend them to the point of just pushing them away.  

There's all the guys at work too!  I'm not allowed to talk about my religion at work and I don't want to get fired so I keep that quiet.  I mean they know I am different and I don't indulge in the things they do.  They probably have all seen the fish on the back of my car and I don't go around acting like a heathen so at least they have my living testimony.  Is that going to be enough for them to repent today before it is to late?  I wonder if they even know about Jesus because I've got to face facts here.  My living testimony shows I am a good guy but then that doesn't tell them about salvation in Christ alone.  I mean Omar for example...  He is Muslim and he is even more strict than I am and does his prayers daily...  work doesn't stop him from that because of laws.  Is his testimony even better than mine in that regard?

Maybe you are a student?  Spreading your religion in school is really tough now.  Makes school administrator's very nervous...  can't even easily wear a teeshirt any longer with a Christian message.  I used to take my Bible but then I got so much ragging by everyone that I sort of stopped.  I mean we have that prayer at the flag pole every year but I don't think that is causing the others to repent and turn to God.  They say that I shouldn't really get into people's face with my faith because we don't want to turn people away by becoming one of those religious nuts that stand on the corner of the road yelling TURN OR BURN!  But then what...  that message today is actually the real message and there is no more time.

Maybe you're a pastor?  You've preached a lot and now you start going through the faces of your congregation in your mind...  are they really okay?  I see them when they come to church but really I don't know much about them outside of this building.  Are they really okay spiritually?  Okay...  maybe if I would have known this a month ago my sermons would have been more focused on His returning for a spotless bride...  but I didn't know.  

Maybe a parent?  You've been cool with your teen-aged kids.  You remember what it was like to get forced to go to church and have to follow all the "God" rules and you hated it.  You've gone out of your way not to push your own kids that way over the years.  Okay they are good kids by and large but I've seen some of their friends that they hang out with regularly and they really aren't all that interested in church.  I'm trying to remember the last time I actually saw them pick up their Bible or pray...  but I can't really remember seeing that.  They don't do drugs and all that stuff I'm pretty sure but their relationship with God...  I've been silent about that because they need to make up their own minds right?  

These are just a few scenarios out of many.  Yes, I know that we don't know the time. But then Jesus made it clear often...  it could be tomorrow and we must be ready.  Yes, I know that this is just hypothetical but what if today was the day?  You have to admit that since we don't know the day or the hour...  today could in fact be the day.  Actually, I think it would be wonderful for that warning ahead of the time...  even if it was but a few hours warning.  Reality though...  we're not likely going to get that warning because we've already been told...  Be ready.  We are to live every day as if it was the last day I mean think about it....  what do we think TODAY is the day of your salvation really meant?  I dare say that most of us, if we knew this was the day, we'd be pretty frantic about telling those we love about Christ.  We'd likely even beg and plead with some that are really close, trying to get them to understand the seriousness of the time.  I can't imagine, knowing how this time was going to play out, not franticly trying anyway.  This brings me to that  "we're not promised tomorrow" thing that we know is in there but never really ponder it much.  

I live in Atlanta and here we have a number of ways in which TODAY ends for someone.  The lady that goes out to her car.  She's just going to the store to get some things for that special dinner tonight.  The guy that has been watching her for weeks has something different in mind and we hear a week later that they finally found her body.  TODAY that day was her last day and yet she was so young and full of life...  I know she was because that's what all the people who knew her said when interviewed by the press.  

There is that family of four that were on their way home from the ballgame.  They just spent the day having a lot of fun as a family and fun they had too!  Perhaps they're in the van recapping the excitement of the game and looking at the foul ball that the young son was able to snag as it bounced around the hands of a multitude of fans before falling into his hand.  They didn't know that the guy driving that pretty SUV had been drinking all day at the lake.  They only had about a second in time to actually see the man's SUV swerve over into their lane before it slammed head on into their van.  If you would have asked anyone in that family that day if they would not be around tomorrow...  they'd of thought that an insane thought.  TODAY was in fact their last day.

That young man was just sitting in his room listening to his MP3 player.  He never even heard the shot that sent a bullet through the wall of his house lodging into the side of his neck where he would bleed to death before the ambulance could get there. TODAY is now gone for him and TODAY IS THE DAY OF YOUR SALVATION has expired.  He either is or he isn't.  I have lost any chances to be certain or even try.

This is the sort of thing that happens all the time here.  TODAY ends for someone every day and while I don't know all these people personally...  someone did.  There is a Christian out there in the Atlanta area that knew this person... perhaps personally, professionally, socially...  someway they were known.  What about our silence then?

I remember my daughter and I were out in Little Falls, Minnesota.  What makes the story even a bit more aggravating to us is the fact that we were heading to the park where we would often just talk to people about the Lord.  They would have music on Sunday afternoon at that park so it was a great time because people were just sitting around in the grass waiting until the music started.  On the way we noticed a volley ball game going on and these people were often there.  My daughter really felt led to talk to a guy there but hey...  they were playing and she didn't want to disturb the game.  We'd just catch them on the way back right.  Down at the park we tried to talk to people but the draw to talk to that guy was pretty bad so after a time she asked could we go back to the volley ball court and talk to that guy.  I said sure so off we went.  Problem though...  they were finished, packed up, and gone.  Not to fear though...  we purposed then that we'd come early next Sunday afternoon and talk to him before they started their game.  They weren't there that next Sunday though...  wouldn't be for a few more weeks.  You see...  it just wasn't the same now since John died.  He was on the way home from a friends house that evening on his bike and someone hit him and didn't stop.  They found him that next day.  His TODAY expired.  

Today really isn't all that long in the grand scheme of things.  We have work to do yet because time still travels on but TODAY is always the last TODAY for someone.  Don't let today escape without sharing Christ with someone because that someone is not promised tomorrow.