47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:47-50
Thoughts:
Many things happen on the side of Heaven at the hands of evil people. Some have asked, “if there is a God, why does he allow bad things to happen”, such as some of the bad things we see evil people do. The answer is, he doesn’t – in the grand scheme of things. We are all being taken to court. This is just a blip of time we are living in. Whether you are a terrorist performing evil acts or just a regular Joe or Jane who rejects Christ love and forgiveness – this is evil. Imagine your own child jumping in front of a bullet to save another human being and that other human being looking you in the eye and saying, “don’t care” or “it never happened“. How evil and selfish is that? Our hearts are prone to question and put the idea of what Christ did on the backburner so we can live one more day our own way and apart from him. Yet, we all know deep down there is a God, as the heavens declare his glory. There’s no excuse, though we may search for some. With that we have all at some point said to ourselves, “don’t care, I’m going to do my own thing”. And if we are being honest, we still say that through our actions sometimes. Guilty.
What is a plea agreement?
In a human court of law a plea agreement is an agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant to resolve the criminal case where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a certain crime and the prosecutor agrees to provide the defendant a benefit for doing so. ref:site
In God’s court, God has already provided a benefit, or better put, a Savior – Jesus Christ. The question is whether you’ve pleaded guilty and received him or are you still rejecting the truth of your sin and God’s love for you through Jesus Christ?
What does receiving him look like?
This will look different from one person to the next. But it begins with prayer that may go something like this:
Yes I am guilty God, I have many many crimes against you, for every sin is like a crime of rebellion against you, you are a Holy God. I plea guilty. You are righteous, and I have many times sinned against you. Please forgive me. I accept the plea agreement you arranged. I accept and receive the forgiveness you paid for through the precious blood of your Son Jesus. I am unworthy of such a gracious gift which truly expresses your love for me. I need mercy, and you have offered me mercy through the sacrifice you made through your Son Jesus Christ. When his blood was poured out for the sins of the world – me being part of this world means it was also poured out for me. Yes, your blood poured out for me. Thank you God for saving me, for rescuing me, and though my sins are like scarlet, you have made me white as snow. You are my God and I believe in you and with that I choose this day follow Jesus forever more. ~ amen
It’s time.
