An Unavoidable Subject - Greg Laurie Daily Devotion - Apr. 2, 2014
An Unavoidable Subject
And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. - (Hebrews 9:27–28)
Jesus talked a lot about hell. In fact, He talked more about hell than any other preacher in the Bible. Therefore, we don’t want to steer clear of the subject. We want a biblical understanding of what the Bible says.
The apostle Paul concluded his message on Mars Hill with these words: “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30–31).
Jesus talked about judgment. Paul talked about judgment. The apostles talked about judgment. The Bible talks about judgment. And we need to talk about it, too, and have a proper understanding of what it is all about.
Some would say that it isn’t loving to talk about these things. But I could not disagree more. I think it’s the most loving thing we could do.
Let’s say there was a house on fire with someone trapped inside. And let’s say for some reason, he didn’t know his house was on fire. Would it be a loving thing for me to run and kick down the door, grab him, and run out of the burning house with him? Of course it would.
On the other hand, would it be a loving thing for me to walk by and say, “Oh, that house is on fire! Very interesting. Let’s go”? That wouldn’t be loving at all.
If we really believe there is an afterlife—and more specifically—a final judgment, if we really believe we will be held accountable for things that we say and do, then it will affect the way that we live.
Copyright © 2012 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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