HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD?

                       HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD?

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26 

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Hebrews 9:27

"And He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.' And he thought within himself, 'What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?' And he said, 'This will I do. I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to Him, 'You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be which you have provided?'" Luke 12:16-20

  I left out verse 21 ("So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.") because that is not the particular focus right now, but it is good for us to know.

  What I felt the Lord wanted me to share is the utter importance of being ready to meet our MAKER ("behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of our salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2) and not to presumptuously leave it to a time of your choosing. As we all know, no guarantees have been made as to the actual time allotted to us. He will call us when He is ready, and it is up to us to be ready. He has provided all the grace for our salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That being said, the ball is now in our court to respond. 

  Someone might say, "What do you mean, 'Make your peace with God?' I don't believe in God. Well, if you are so certain that you are willing to gamble your eternal soul on your conclusion, that is up to you.  Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8 We have the prophecies from the ancient manuscripts of the Bible about the Messiah, which Jesus fulfilled, and the testimonies of His disciples, who were witnesses to His death and resurrection, most of whom were brutally killed for not recanting their testimony to His resurrection. And of course, the endless testimonies of people to this day who will testify to Jesus saving power in their lives. Perhaps you might want to reconsider your conclusion. 

 Then someone might say, "I am a good person; if there is a God, why would He condemn me?"  First of all, if you are not connected to or walking with the Lord now when He has made a provision for you through Jesus Christ, and you have rejected it, why would you think that He will accept you on that day? Secondly, we typically use our own standards to determine good and bad; however, the Bible testifies that "there is none righteous, no not one... for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 6:10,23. God's standards are so much higher than ours. If we lie, we are liars; if we lust after someone we are not married to, we are adulterers. If we hate someone, we are holding on to the root of murder. If we take the Lord's name in vain, we are blasphemers. If we place something in our hearts that should only belong to God, we are idolaters. And there is so much more. So, are we all that righteous? Do we actually deserve to spend eternity with the Almighty? Maybe you should reconsider your situation and need to truly make your peace with God. 

   Or someone might say, "I am religious (or spiritual)", or "I have my own beliefs." Religion and spirituality, which can mean anything, do not impress God (though He does consider our earnest intentions), because all the presumptuous beliefs and religious practices do not take away our sins, nor purify our souls before a Holy God. We have a good example of this in Acts 10, where there was a devout Roman centurion, called Cornelius, who earnestly feared God, did much charity, prayed, and fasted, and his prayers and alms came up as a memorial before God (vs2-4); however, like all of us, he needed something from God to be right with Him. Those sins must be paid for. To be cleansed from our sins and delivered from our sinful nature is not in the ability of any of us. But God, our Loving Heavenly Father, took up the cause for us by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became a man, lived among us, and laid down His life in Payment for our sins, then rose again three days later and thus purchased our salvation. No religion or good works program can do that. Even Cornelius, though earnest in His acts of charity and beliefs, still needed to come to faith in Christ to be saved. And he and those with him welcomed Jesus Christ with fully open hearts. God testified to their faith by filling them with His Holy Spirit.

  The game is over at the Cross of Christ. We tend to live our lives with busy distractions, duties, chasing dreams, fears, confusion, and carelessness, but today is the day, and now is the time to make the most important decision and act of your life - Make your peace with God! Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on His right and the other on His left. According to the different accounts of the Gospel, it is recorded that both ridiculed Jesus, but in the Gospel according to Luke, there was a point where one of the thieves stopped and rebuked the other thief for saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing amiss.' And he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Verily I say to you, today shall you be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43.

 At the cross of Christ, whether we ourselves are dying or not, the game is over, along with all the folly, all the lies, all the excuses. It gets down to this very narrow gate: do we believe in Jesus and accept Him or not? At this point, for this man, he realized even with all his ignorant behavior (because it does say that even he mocked Christ ("And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him." Mark 15:32) that his game was over. He came to his senses and turned to the Lord and asked for His mercy. Do you notice that at that point, he had nothing to bargain with? All he could do was ask for His mercy and grace. That is all Jesus needed from Him, and that is all He needs from any of us. What do we actually have to bargain with for our eternal souls? What does God need from any of us? Jesus paid all our debts in full. For those of us who are still on this earth after we come to the cross of Christ, all we do is follow Him in faith and obedience until He returns or calls us home.

 Dear friends, if you haven't made your peace with God, today is the day, and now is the time. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved! Acts 16:31