It is never too late, until it is. Repent and believe.

Matthew 10:27 “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.

Yesterday we went to my cousins funeral, a celebration of life so tragically taken at age 43 in a plane crash a couple of weeks ago. Nobody knows how to process these events, but they alter life’s courses for all who were close to those lost when tragedy strikes. My own was altered about 20 years ago when I lost one of my best friends in a car wreck; it broke something of my strong-willed hard self, God humbled me greatly with it. Yesterday there was one thing that stood above all to everyone who witnessed it. Her brother, led by God, went to the podium and spoke to everyones need for God. He told me that he had not planned to speak, but God would not let him sit still. God laid on his heart the urgency for everyone there to hear their need for God, of how they are not guaranteed tomorrow, of how they are assured of eternity somewhere, and they are never too old or young to believe. His heartfelt plea was clearer than the two pastors who conducted the service, because God had commanded that he speak, and he was obedient in doing so. Because of that tragedy, and his obedience, God will bring good from this incredible loss, God will tug on the softened hard hearts, God will humble the most prideful, God will till the softened soil and produce heavenly fruit; more will enter the kingdom of God through this tragedy and bold gospel proclamations.

I have told those closest to me there has been an urgency in my spirt of the need to proclaim the gospel; the call of repentance, the breaking down of religion to the religious lost. I am the greatest sinner, still struggling daily today with my own battles; who am I to proclaim anything about repentance……..I understand repentance, the cleansing act that leads to salvation and restores communion with God. I had a prideful testimony that lead to brokenness and humble pleas for forgiveness. Are you stuck in pride, no need for God? 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Are you prideful in your religion because you go to church every Sunday, yet never seek or share your God the other six days a week? Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Are you prideful because you feel as though you really are not that bad of a person, and good people go to heaven anyway? Proverbs 16:8 Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Is your understanding that all gods are the same, that all paths lead to god, and all the good people will end up in paradise together? John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. I told my parents for years, I would get right with God on my timing, I wanted to live life and settle down when it suited me. It was not until much later in life, when tragedy struck, did I realize the depth of my ignorance. Job 12:9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? Repent and believe about your pride, your religion, your ignorance today, right now, before it is too late. The call of the gospel is urgent, the time is now, and by the grace of God may you all repent and believe that you are lost without him forever. May your testimony be one of boldness to all that He has prepared to hear, may you proclaim it from the rooftops, or to at least that person you see every day beside you. It is never too late, until it is.