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Life is Short … We only Have One Shot at It

"So teach us [God] to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."¹

Last year Joy and I had the opportunity to attend a reunion in Sydney, Australia, of the Open Air Campaigners, an evangelistic organization that I was very much involved in back in the 1950s. At the reunion I met many friends I hadn't seen in over half-a-century. It was amazing how time had flown, and now that we were all in our senior years of life, one couldn't help but realize how brief life on earth is.

In realizing that our days are numbered, it is good to remind ourselves that the day is coming when we will all come face to face with God and appear at his judgment seat to give an account of our life. According to God's Word, the Bible, there are two distinct judgment seats after life on earth is ended.

First, is the Judgment Seat of Christ² where all who have confessed their sins, received God's forgiveness and Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will NOT be judged for their sins because Jesus has already paid for their penalty, but will be judged and rewarded on the basis of how they have lived for and served God since the day they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The second judgment seat is the Great White Throne Judgment³ seat of God where those who have never confessed their sins to God, nor asked for His forgiveness, nor accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior—God's Son who died on the cross to pay the penalty for their sins—will stand before God and accept His just judgment for all their sins. Tragically these people will be damned to a lost eternity forever in the place the Bible calls Hell, an unthinkable thought.

So, dear reader, if you have never received God's forgiveness and Jesus Christ as your Savior, I urge you to do that today. Please don't put this off for even a moment more. For help read the article, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: www.actsweb.org/christian, and receive God's full and free pardon for all your sins—today.

And if you have accepted God's forgiveness and Jesus as your Savior, make absolutely certain, through your service to God, that you are laying up treasures in heaven. How tragically sad it would be to stand before Jesus to give an account of your service for God while here on earth, and you have little or nothing to offer.

As Jesus says to all his followers: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."⁴

Remember: life is short—we only have one shot at it! "Only one life 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You for Your Word that gives explicit instructions both for this life and life beyond the grave. Please open the eyes of my understanding so that I will fully understand Your instructions, and adhere to them so that I will know with absolute certainty that when my life on earth is ended, I will go to be with You in heaven forever, and that when I stand before Jesus to give an account of my life in how I have lived for and served Him, that I won't be empty handed. So help me God. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Psalm 90:12 (NKJV).
2. 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NKJV).
3. Revelation 20:11-15 (NKJV).
4. Matthew 6:19-21 (NKJV).

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