Just one more sleep ‘til Christmas.
I remember as a kid, how excited I would be on Christmas Eve. I’d be dreaming of all the great presents I’d get the next morning and find sleep hard to come by that night. We would get up early, in our pyjamas, and open the presents and then get ready to go to Church. We never forgot why the day existed, with a model crib and shepherds and baby and holy parents sitting on the side and the book called “The Christmas Story” propped up next to them. Do people still remember things like that? Has our society gone so far from Christianity that people still think it is all to do with presents and drinking and eating to excess?
Lindy and I try to keep in mind why the holiday exists and to remind others, without banging on about it too much, that we are celebrating the birth of a miraculous child. Christianity in this country is once again under assault. The government is controlled by rich men who seem to have no interest in getting into heaven and, by their actions, seem only to care about becoming more rich and do not seek to serve those who elected them. Even a prophet of God would be laughed at today, as they were in the days of the Kings of Israel I suppose.
Many of these rich men care naught for spiritual things until they are on their deathbeds and the Angel of the Lord is waiting at the foot, watching them slip away into the realm of judgement. How much sincerity is there in their confessions at that time? How many of them leave it too late and do not receive their wages from the owner of the vineyard? How many do not care and die believing that there is no afterlife and then are shocked when they stand face to face with the Creator whose existence they have denied throughout their time on Earth?
The Parable Jesus told shows that God will forgive, right up to the last hour before the work is done. (The owner seeking workers for his vineyard and paying them all equally right up to the end of the day, even though they started work much later than the others). I have never really thought of this parable in that way before, though it is obvious that it is applicable to those deathbed confessions, but bear in mind that one cannot plan to confess on ones deathbed since the sorrow one expresses must be real – God listens to our hearts and our souls, not what trips out of our mouths.
You cannot lie to your creator. He cannot be fooled, or tricked. He sees into your very depths and knows the truth of what lies in your heart and this is why you must examine your conscience and be alert, for nobody knows the time and the place that they will face him. Whether the world ends with a blast of joy on a trumpet from an angel of God, or whether that same angel meets with us in the back of an ambulance as the paramedics cease their attempts at resuscitation, rest assured that the moment will come and we will be whisked away to stand before the one true God to answer for our lives, to explain to him what we did with the gift he gave us.
I truly pray that none of us are found wanting for if Hell exists, and the scriptures tell us it does, then it is not a place I would wish to see anyone suffer in for an eternity. It does not strike you right away, but ‘eternity’ is a very long time – the longest time you can imagine and then some more. Remember those hours you spent sitting and fidgeting in waiting rooms for Doctors or Dentists or replacement car tyres? Now multiply THAT time by infinity and there you have it. It is not an eternity of enjoying yourself and thinking “Ah well, I messed that up a bit” – it is an eternity of torment and guilt and suffering and separation from God and agony. Think of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the story that Jesus told, and the answer that was given to the Rich Man when he begged the angel to send word to his family and friends so they did not end up in the same situation as him. The angel told him that they had the Law and the Prophets – they needed nothing else.
To a Christian, those writings are what we call The Bible. We have the Law of God, we have the writings of the Prophets of God and we have the New Covenant laid down by the Son of God and faithfully recorded by those blessed enough to be called as his companions. We need nothing more. No signs, no miracles, no visitations from Angels. This is all we get and if we ignore it, if we squander it, we shall suffer the consequences.
God suffers for every one of us that he loses. Think of the Prodigal Son, think of the Good Shepherd who went out of his way to find the one lost sheep even though he had ninety-nine in the fold, this is your God, your Creator, who wants everyone to come back to him and rejoices when just one lost sheep is returned.
Remember also what Jesus said – at the end, the sheep shall be separated from the goats and only the sheep will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Those goats, those stubborn individuals who would not listen to the Law or the Prophets or the Son of God, will suffer for that eternity which we have discussed.
Do not be a goat, dear reader, do not be a goat.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen.
