“What a Tragedy It Would Be…!”

Lou Coleman-Yeboah

By Lou Coleman-Yeboah

To have gone through your whole life and at the end of it, look back, and realize that you spent all your time, money and energy on things that were pointless and had no value or worth. [Mark 8:36]. I tell you, we should all pray as Moses did in [Psalms 90] for God’s help to understand the great value of our limited time and how to make the most of each day. Of all that Moses could have asked, he simply asked, “Lord, teach us to make the most out of everyday… teach us to number our days.” Moses understood that his time here on earth was short; soon it would come to an end. Moses didn’t want to waste his time; he didn’t want to waste his life –So he cried out, “Lord, teach us to number our days… Interestingly, in the New Testament, the apostle Paul says, “So be careful how [you] live, not as fools but as those who are wise…” [Ephesians 5:15-16]. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.?” [James 4:13-15].

Listen, over and over again, the Bible exhorts us to redeem the time. Like Moses, we have to learn to number our days. We must not waste our time, opportunities, or our life . Don’t be like Belshazzar who in [Daniel 5:1-31] was living for this life.  Living to gratify his flesh with absolutely no thought for eternity.  Partying, playing, and living for the good times, never realizing that there will come a day when the fun will end.  He never stopped and asked this one important question: What will happen when the party’s over? I tell you Belshazzar is an example of a wasted life. He died a sinner’s death and went to Hell. And he is still there today, [Luke 16:19-31]. Things did not have to turn out the way they did for Belshazzar.  He knew the truth about God, yet he failed to act on it.

I want you to know that the story of Belshazzar is a story of one tragedy piled on top of another.  But, his story does not have to be your story.  The ending to your story has yet to be written.  Your story does not have to be one of a wasted life, the wrath of God and a wretched death.  Your story can have a happy ending.  I am asking you to make sure of your relationship with Christ. Christ demands more than just churchgoing, more than just baptism, more than just being good. He demands your total surrender—the surrender of your mind, your heart, your body, every part of you—to the Lordship of Christ. If you have a doubt in your heart that you have totally surrendered to Christ, do it now. Make sure of your salvation. Make certain that you know Christ. Repent of your sins. Confess your sins, acknowledge them and turn from them. Receive Jesus Christ into your heart by faith, making a total commitment to Him, and to Him alone. End your life well, to the glory of God.

For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; what shall it be for you and I if we follow suit….[2Peter 2:4-8].

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, [and] that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he [is] thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.[Deuteronomy 30: 19-20]

Author: Lou Coleman