Last night, after our Sunday night church prayer meeting, I drove home with Tanner and Tucker. The timing was perfect to talk to them about something heavy on my heart. The topic had never been discussed among us before and I needed to give them some parental guidance.
I talked to them about the end times and the things that will happen. My primary purpose was to instruct them under no circumstances to take the mark of the beast. I told them it would be better to choose death and have their head chopped off than to deny their faith in Jesus Christ.
They were very silent. The topic of choosing death over compromising your faith is sobering. Not something that 17 and 16 year old boys think about often. That is why I needed to talk to them about this all the more. None of us know when the end will come. People predict but they are always wrong. None of know. I don't know how long I will be around. This is not a conversation I could put off.
It is not a conversation you should put off talking about with your family and closest friends. In the moment of trial many people will give into the pressure. They might wilt like flowers in the hot Texas summer. They will denounce Jesus and take the mark of the beast bowing to peer pressure. We must prepare ourselves to stand firm. Whether that be a couple of years or several decades.
I recently celebrated another birthday. One more and I will turn fifty. Fifty years old. It is hard to believe. Seems like not that long ago I was riding my big wheel in the Englewood Terrace neighborhood as a little boy. We played in the woods, played chase on our bicycles, and played whatever ball was in season at the time. Next thing you know I am playing varsity football for the mighty Lufkin Panthers. Time flew by. I remember my last high school football practice and last varsity game at 28-0 spanking of the Nacogdoches Dragons.
My whole life changed my junior year when a local youth minister introduced me to Jesus. Jesus saved me from my sins and made me a new creation. It was His leadership that led me to play football at Howard Payne University. God had much more in store. I studied for the ministry at Howard Payne and met Brenda there. We were married after we graduated. Then the kids came and then they grew up. Taylor graduated two years ago and Tanner will graduate this Spring. It is hard to believe.
One day I will die or Jesus will come get me along with the other saints. I will not always be here to give my kids guidance. I will not always be here to write or to preach sermons. This is something burning deep in my heart. A message I just had to get out.
If it comes down to a choice between compromise and denying our faith in Jesus Christ or death - LET US DETERMINEDLY CHOOSE DEATH! May our anthem be the same as Paul, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." [Phil 1:21] Should we be called on to stand firm or face martyrdom let us choose death with a smile on our face. In the twinkling of an eye we will say goodbye to this world and walk into another world we cannot imagine. The reward is well worth the risk. If it comes down to it, let us choose death.
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