Your Choice
You may choose to die twice, or to
be born twice. The first death is physical and the second is spiritual.
If you experience spiritual death your soul is separated from God, heaven
and all things righteous. If you are to be born twice, once physically
and again spiritually, you will live eternally. The timing of the second
death, if it comes, is on judgment day. The second birth is "of the
Spirit." The second birth happens the day that you acknowledge
that the Son of God is your personal redeemer and Lord. It is a birth
that keeps your name in the Book of Life.
In other words, you make that decision
now and your place in eternity is sealed. If you simply decide not to
decide, that is a decision in itself and the consequences are whatever
they will be, but the Bible says they are not good.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
19 "I call heaven and
earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life
and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you
and your descendants may live;
20 "that you may love
the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling
to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you
may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." (NKJ)
Isaiah 1:18
18 "Come now, and let
us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they
shall be as wool. (NKJ)
Once you acknowledge that your sins
have been atoned for, perfectly, by the shed blood of the Messiah, you
spend the remainder of your days, whether brief or long, inscribing
things on the only page that matters; the page of life, the record that
chronicles your faith, your love of God and your new found capacity
to love your fellow man. This side of the page is only available to
those who can now stand acceptably before the LORD (See Chapter 7, "Life,
one two sided page"). You stand, not in your own worthiness, but
in His, accepting the unmerited gift of the grace of God, with a contrite
heart and a humble spirit.
What you and I decide to do, dictates whether the pages of our personal
eternity are to be inscribed in God's Holy presence or whether they
are to be eternally endured in some very unpleasant place, separated
from God's love and the company of His chosen people.
In these following verses, Solomon further distinguishes between life
and death. Realize that "finding life" occurs after your spiritual
birth. Your choice to ignore your spiritual birth and to go on sinning
is a declaration against your own soul and according to the Bible, eternal
death awaits.
Proverbs 8:33-36
33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the LORD;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate
me love death." (NKJ)
Listen again to the words of God, recorded
by Moses.
Deuteronomy 30:19
19 ...I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and
your descendants may live. (NKJ)
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