I often wonder if I had been just 3 blocks further up the street, could I have made a difference. I desired to be at that location, but instead, I was 900+ feet away, attempting to reach people for the sake of the Gospel, and a young man’s life was taken just a short distance away.
If I had been in that spot at that time, maybe the outcome could have been different. Or maybe I too would have been a victim.
As I ponder this, one thing is clear to me, and that is how vital it is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible.
The Dallas Express published an article that cited global health data from a few reputable sources, which revealed that an average of 165,000 people die each day. The staggering figures below are also mentioned within the article.
· Daily Deaths – 165,000
· Hourly Deaths – 6,850
· Per-Second Deaths – 1.9 People
· Annual Total – 60 million deaths per year.
Think of the number of people who will have died by the time you finish reading this blog post. For the sake of an example, if it takes you 4 minutes to read this journal entry that I have crafted, by the time you complete it, 7.6 people will have passed away.
Considering this, a sobering Bible verse comes to mind: Hebrews 9:27, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.
The point of the verse is that a date and time are set for each of us to die and leave this world, and when that occurs, we will face a Holy God to be judged.
The sobering aspect of this is that we have all sinned and are unable to stand before God without being condemned.
The writer of the book of Hebrews points to the solution for our problem in chapter 9 by pointing to the fact that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins, and we can receive forgiveness through faith in Jesus’ work on the Cross and therefore be able to one day stand before God blameless.
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9
Hope beyond measure is available to those who believe. But despair beyond comprehension awaits those who reject Jesus and his sacrificial work on their behalf. “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18
As you have read this far into the post, there are people who have died. Some have entered the presence of God and will forever be with him in eternal bliss. Others passed from this life to the next and were immediately condemned and will never again experience any form of comfort (See Luke 16:19-31).
Knowing these things, we who are followers of Jesus must comply with his command to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15
Someone near you, perhaps as close as 3 city blocks, may be on the brink of exiting this world. May God grant you an opportunity to share the Gospel with them.
Note: All scriptures were taken from the ESV version of the Bible.
