Monday, December 1, 2008

And Anyone Who Was Not Found Written In The Book Of Like Was Thrown Into The Lake Of Fire. Rev. 20:15.

How does God feel about the destruction of the wicked? Is it "good riddance" along with a sigh of relief? Or is this the most difficult moment in the history of the universe? The following story gives me a sense of the answer.

Shirley was a high school guidance counselor when the phone rang one day. A student was on the line. "Jen says to tell you that maybe you should check on Todd. He may need you pretty badly. She broke up with him at noon."

Todd was Shirley's son. She hurried home to find an empy medicine bottle on the kitchen counter and a message on her son's computer: "It's hard to know what to say when you face death, but I thought I must say somehing . . . Suicide is not the answer, but maybe it is a better way than life . . . I want everyone concerend to know I love them-especially Jen. I love you so much that love has taken over my intelligence." Todd was all of 16 years old at the time.

Life had always mattered to the young man before this. As a student he was at the top of his class. At a convalescent center he had always been a responsible worker. Shirley slammed her fist down on the taunting computer. That monring a happy 16-year-old had left the home with a rose and a poem he had written for his girlfriend. He had never threatened suicide or been unduly depressed. Fitting in withhis peers, he didn't drink or take drugs, had none of the classic symptoms of a suicide. Although Shirley had counseled others, she had no chnace to counsel her own son.

Her husband had rushed Todd to the emergency room. The staff there pumped his stomach and put him on an IV drip. Thanks to rapid intervention Todd received another chance at life. Some time later he and his mother finally had a quiet chance to talk. The words gushed out in gulping sobs: "Mom, I didn't mean to hurt you! I didn't mean to hurt Jen! Why can't she love me? I begged her not to leave. . ."

"Cry, honey, just cry," his mother said.
"Mom, have you ever knelt and begged someone to stay, and they just turned and walked out?"
"No, son, I haven't."

Todd whispered softly, "God has - every time one of us walks away from Him."

Lord, I sense a bit of the aching pain You feel every time I walk away from You, even if just for a moment. I know that an even greater pain is coming on that day when sin and sinners are eradicated from the universe. You have always been there when I needed You. I want to be there for You on that day.

By their good works, Christ's followers are to bring glory, not to themselves, but to Him through whose grace and power they have wrought. It is through the Holy Spirit that every good work is accomplished, and the Spirit is given to glorify, not the receiver, but the Giver. When the light of Christ is shining in the soul, the lips will be filled with praise and thanksgiving to God. Your prayers, your performance of duty, your benevolence, your self-denial, will not be the theme of your thought or conversation. Jesus will be magnified, self will be hidden, and Christ will appear as all in all.(TFMB 81).