Prepare To Meet Thy God

Today, we live in a world full of sin and corruption. It is a world that seems to focus more on the pleasures and material things that surround us than on the spiritual things of God!

All across this wonderful place called planet Earth, a land created for us by God, men, women, boys and girls, seem to have forgotten about Almighty God and His Son, Jesus.

In the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, in my old stomping grounds of Knoxville, Tennessee, in a place called Rocky Top, 107,000 people gather most every Saturday in the fall, to scream and holler for their beloved Volunteers, the University of Tennessee’s football team.

It’s no different than what we see in Blacksburg, Virginia – Miami, Florida – Ann Arbor, Michigan – or South Bend, Indiana or anywhere else for that matter. The stadiums are filled to capacity, generally sold out well in advance, and the seats are far from cheap.

The Bible tells us that Sunday’s are special, set aside for us as the Lord’s Day. God gave it so much importance that He included it in The Ten Commandments that He gave to Moses 3452 years ago in 1450 B.C. Found in Exodus 20:8, God commanded all of us to “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

So tell me why church? Why is it that in churches of all denominations, all across America this morning, chairs and pews remain empty? Why is it that business establishments that used to be closed on Sunday’s are now open?

The answers are simple. The pews sit empty because people all across our land are no longer concerned with the things of God! They have better things to do.

The business establishments that are now open on Sundays? Simple answer – greed! They see it as an opportunity to bring more dollars into their coffers. The Bible tells us that “greed” is one of the seven deadly sins.

We serve a God of love and compassion, but He is also a jealous God and a God of wrath and judgment. One day we will all stand before our Creator and be accountable for our lives and the decisions that we made.

Church – prepare to meet thy God! We’re not promised any tomorrows, or even our next breath. Be ready always, for our life might be taken in the blink of an eye.

I knew a friend named Lori. She fell in love with a man she met on the Internet. After a courtship of about a year’s time, Lori packed up all her worldly possessions this week, along with her two young daughters, and headed for Florida. Once there, she and her fiancé were to be married and live happily ever after. Lori never made it. She and her children lost their lives on Georgia highway. We just never know people, we just never know. Prepare to meet they God!

All over our world, people of all nationalities have become spiritually forgetful and unconcerned, but the fact remains that each of us will pay for our neglect and forgetfulness. For it is clearly written in God’s Holy Word, that all of us, everyone, will one day reap what we have sown.

When a farmer plants his seeds, he will reap what he has sown. That is an unchangeable law of nature. God’s law is the same for us, for as we reap, so shall we sow.

The way we handle our relationship with our husband or wife should be the same way that we handle our relationship with God.

I believe that love is like a garden. We plant the seeds and then we take very good care of it. We water our garden, nurture it, fertilize it and watch over it daily. If a weed grows we remove it. With each passing day the seeds we have planted continue to grow and prosper, until one day the garden bears wonderful fruits.

Our relationship with God is much the same. It is the most special relationship one can have. Take care of it. Study to show thyself approved. Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they might. Build your relationship with God daily.

We need to love and watch over our spouse and the union will grow and flourish and prosper. If we fail to take care of our garden then the weeds will grow. That which was once planted with love will wither away and die.

Galatians 6:7 begins with a very solemn warning to us with its first three words – “Be not deceived.” There is a deceiver out there and he’s alive and well. He doesn’t sleep, he doesn’t rest, and he works tirelessly 24 hours a day to accomplish his mission to destroy us and our relationship with God.