Too Late

Have you ever missed a deadline, showed up after a start time, waited too long to call and make payment arrangements on a bill, showed up at a store just as they locked the doors? Have you ever been told that no matter what your reason (I forgot, I didn’t know, I was busy, I was sick…), you are too late and the situation can no longer be remedied?

I think that nowadays, we are accustomed to there being another chance for everything. We get into the mindset, that if I explain my situation, they will understand and make adjustments for me. Seldom do we experience the stinging remorse of having to realize that we are simply too late and will have to suffer the consequences.

I think that’s the stance a lot of us take when it comes to God and eternity. God is forgiving, and when we come to him, he will forgive us and give us another chance. A lot of us have only seen the forgiving side of God, never his wrath or adherence to truth and justice. After all, even though he is forgiving and loving, he is just and holy and doesn’t fudge the rules. If you have trouble believing that, think for a minute about his Son. If there was any way for God to fudge the rules and somehow ignore our sin and let us slide without any punishment, he could’ve saved his Son the agony of the crucifixion altogether. But because of who he is, God could not even allow himself to let it slide, even though there is no one to hold him accountable. So he gave his son to this cruel inhumane torture to satisfy the requirement of justice once and for all. Atonement.

All of that is good news for us, because without Christ’s sacrifice, we had no remedy for our sin, and not even a first chance to save ourselves from destruction. But because his love is so great, he allowed Jesus to pay our debt and suffer as a mere mortal, at the hands of other mere mortals who were not even worthy be in his presence. Jesus did it humbly, obediently and sinlessly without so much as a sinful thought or motive. Obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It’s because of this that God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name. No one is more deserving, wouldn’t you agree?

The sobering part of this good news, is that if God is so just and so holy, that he wouldn’t let down his requirement even a little to spare his Son such agony, then doesn’t it stand to reason that he will do what he has said both to those who accept his terms, and to those who reject them? Salvation is free, and God has done everything to make it possible and available to all, but his holiness demands we follow his way and not our own. So it’s a trick for our minds to tell us that God is going to adjust his requirements for our “legitimate” excuses.

So, because God is merciful, and forgiving, and kind, and he loves us, let us not put off our pursuit of his will; finding out what he requires, and meeting those requirements. The day will come when it is too late, and he must once again honor his own word.

Here’s a good place to start:

Romans 10:8-10 (King James Version)
8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

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