An Arrangement for Eternity
When you're little, your parents seem immortal. They're not. Sooner or later, most of us get the kind of call I got quite a few years back. The hospital called to say my father had died from complications following a stomach operation. No matter what the circumstances, the death of someone you love is always a shock. When you're the oldest in the family, and the other brothers are some distance away, there can be a numbing list of arrangements that you suddenly have to make, including ringing overseas to let other family members know. Thankfully, though still a student for the ministry, I had conducted quite a few funerals while assisting in Townsville, and knew what was involved.
And so it was a real blessing in making those arrangements, to have had that experience and the help of the Undertaker whom I had already come to know, even though only a few months back in Brisbane after our stays in Stanthorpe and Townsville. I must say though, that while those arrangements were important, my father had made a far more important arrangement, an arrangement that guaranteed he would be in heaven for all eternity. That is the most important arrangement you will ever make - or fail to make.
God knows we're so busy living that we don't give much thought to dying. In fact, we generally try to avoid thinking about death as much as possible - until we're at the bedside of someone we've just lost. It's hard to look face-to-face at death like that and not think about, "Where will I be when it's me there?" This isn't about being morbid. It's about being ready. If I know I'm prepared for something that's coming up, I don't have to keep thinking about it. It's settled. There's nothing more critical for you to settle than your eternal destination. Avoiding those arrangements carries a price too high to pay.
That's why the Bible says in Amos 4, verses 12 and 13: "Prepare to meet your God ... He who forms the mountains, creates the wind ... and treads the high places of the earth - the Lord God Almighty is His name." It is this awesome God who will decide when you and I will take our last breath; when eternity will begin for each and every one of us. The Bible says that you and I have an appointment with our Creator - the time when the old-timers used to say you "meet your Maker". God's Book says, "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). A divine appointment, the nearness of which we cannot know. A divine appointment where we will be judged for every wrong thing we've ever done - unless.....
When you face God, it's too late to make your arrangements. That needs to be done here and now. So many people think they'll get to heaven by being good. They're wrong - eternally wrong. The Bible clearly explains: "It is by grace (that's undeserved love) that you have been saved, through faith - and this ... is the gift of God - not by works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). All the good things we do, can't possibly cancel our sin because sin has an eternal death penalty, and a death penalty can't be paid by doing good. Someone has to die, and someone did. Jesus did - so we don't have to if we belong to Him. Our only hope is grabbing Him like a drowning person would grab a rescuer. When you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when by faith you accept that he died for you and live His way, then there will not be any judgement.
If you've never reached out to Jesus, you're not "prepared to meet your God". But you can be - beginning this very day. You can actually know from this moment on that you are going to heaven when you die, because the sin that would keep you out of heaven has been forever forgiven by the One who died for that sin. Your spiritual rescue begins the moment you say, "Jesus, I'm putting my total trust in You and what You did on the cross for me. I'm Yours. Please forgive all my sins." There is no greater peace, no greater security, than to know your arrangements for eternity have all been made. This very day you can prepare to meet your God. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” May you truly know His grace and peace!