It was very good to be off Good Friday and Easter Monday so I hit the road to visit my family in a neighboring province. Two hours into my trip, I saw flashing lights coming at me in my rear view mirror.
Instantly, I pulled over and waited for the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) officer to come my window. I asked what was wrong and he said that I was driving without my daytime running lights. I had no idea! He checked them for me, using the knob on my dash and confirmed that both bulbs were burned out.
Despite my effort to explain that I didn’t know, I wasn’t able to convince the officer of my earnest plea. He wasn’t going to change his mind and I was guilty as charged. It was my responsibility to ensure my lights were working as the owner and driver of my vehicle. All of the good deeds that I had done that week, and in the last year or even my whole life, did not matter. What mattered is that I broke the law.
This whole scene reminded me of something very sobering and terrifying. In a future day, many will stand before the Creator of the Universe, as individuals—one by one. Each person will have a book opened before them and they will be judged according to how they lived their lives, because they didn’t have a Savior. Just as I thought I wasn’t responsible about my lights, many think they aren’t responsible concerning God’s Word and what He is telling them. People refuse to put their trust in Jesus alone as the only one who can wash away their sins and give them peace with God (Acts 4:12).
Some will try to desperately explain themselves, telling of their religious works and their earnest lifestyle as “good people” (Romans 3:10, Ephesians 2:8-9). Others will be shocked into silence as their memory flashes with every instance that someone sought to share the good news about Jesus with them and they realize that the Bible really is true.
These people dismissed what Christ did for them because they loved their sin and didn’t want to turn to Him. They didn’t want to acknowledge that they were responsible before God while they were alive (John 3:19-20). God will say to these people who rejected the truth of His Word: “You are guilty as charged, I never knew you. Depart from me into everlasting fire” (Matthew 7:21).
I didn’t write this article to scare you, but rather to warn you that God who loves you is also a patient God but one day His patience will come to an end. Your spirit is priceless because it will live forever.
But you also have a precious life here on earth that was meant to be lived with Jesus as your Lord and Savior. I do want to tell you of a God who loves you and gave His all for you, so that you can be free from punishment and free from the control of sin in your life today (John 8:36). He loves you and wants to give you a life of purpose, with eternal value and blessing.
The story of Jesus isn’t a fairy tale (John 14:6). He is Creator God in the flesh. The one who chose to take the punishment for our crimes so that we could be forgiven by a holy God who will not allow any sin into heaven.
Won’t you trust Him now? Won’t you believe that He took your place on the cross and suffered the judgment of God so that you wouldn’t have to? Those who abandon their efforts to earn God’s favor and rest in the finished work of Christ on the Cross will meet God; but not as their judge. These people are children of God through faith in Christ and are forgiven (John 5:24)! They will see Him face to face as their Savior!
Are you one of these people? “For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the people in the world could be saved through Him” (John 3:17).
