© 2013 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

On April 17, 2013, a West, Texas fertilizer plant erupted into a violent fireball. It destroyed much of the town leaving many wounded and dead. Please use your imagination to travel with me to that site just prior to its eruption.

Suppose that you and I had gone there with supernatural knowledge of the coming event, and were urging people to evacuate in order to escape the imminent horror. Listen to the following possible responses from the town’s people.

Some might have said, “You’re speaking very negatively. Don’t try to scare me into leaving my home with your scare tactics. I believe we should all think more positively. Look at all the good things that are happening in this town. There are many things being done to keep our town safe. Besides, when you say such horrible things, you are showing a hateful spirit. You should be charged with a hate crime for saying such negative things about our beautiful town!” As you and I depart the town to a safer location, we sadly shake our heads with a sense of remorse, at how little heed the town’s people have given to our warning message.

However, similar warnings of even greater and eternal impact are rejected daily. On one occasion I was sharing the following truth with my military supervisor, who was a Lt. Col. in the Air Force. “…as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28). His calm response was, “I believe a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” To him, the life, which he was presently enjoying, was far more important than concerns about eternity. A few years later, I received word from his wife that he had died of brain cancer. I sadly thought to myself, I wonder what he thinks of his “bird in the hand” now.

God the Son came as Jesus Christ, the Savior, to provide Himself as a blood sacrifice for all who come to Him in repentance, asking Him for forgiveness from sin (read Acts 26:1-18).

Are you enjoying your “bird in the hand” too much to consider eternity which follows?

 

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