Jul 09

From mere money to hopes and dreams and plans, to having a future, even to knowing that one's life has not been forgotten -- all is lost outside of being in Christ. The completeness of the loss is staggering: Nothing escapes the destruction that death brings -- unless one escapes in Christ who conquered death and all it brings.

The totality of loss is seen in many places in Scripture.So beyond comprehension is the horrible nature of this loss that I believe it takes something like meditating on a single verse over and over again to help give at least some small sense of the terrible scope of the loss which a person outside of Christ suffers. For this single verse, I have chosen Ezekiel 27:36. I urge you to read it not once but many times and to contemplate the depth of its meaning:

"You have come to a horrible end and will be no more."

To be no more. That is eternal death. And yet we know from God's Word that a person does not cease to exist after dying; existence continues on for eternity in another form.

To be and not yet to be. That is the agony of hell. Praise God that he has made a way for us to escape such a fate in Jesus Christ!

Scripture for today: Ezekiel 27:36
Thought for today: I choose to be forever in Christ.
Prayer for today: Jesus, thank you for ensuring that I will be forever because I am in you who art eternal.

JUL 09