We've all been driving along, captured by our own thoughts, maybe getting lost in a favorite tune and then suddenly, we see it. The words, "Prepare To Meet Your GOD", plastered on an huge billboard, maybe painted on a overpass, or possibly held up high by a person alongside the road. Whatever platform you view it, the message remains the same.
In America, seeing that we have all become immune to seeing church steeples on every corner, I fear that this particular message has lost its potency. I do believe that one day I will meet my Creator, but my finite mind starts to shut as I start trying to fill in some of the descriptions of that encounter. It's been my experience that I'm not alone in that conclusion.
You know, the term "Preparing To Meet Your God" is different from the prospect of God preparing to meet me. The first can be almost conveyed as a threat, with implications perhaps similar to our earthly equivalent of "Wait until Dad gets home." But God preparing to meet me, however, is a event of unfathomable excitement! God, Creator of all, King of Kings, is preparing to invite me into His presence! It's easy to forget that God is a gentlemen. He has created us and gifted each of us with free will. He demonstrates His love for us, through His Word, through Jesus, all throughout His creation, teaching us about Himself through encounters throughout our day but there will be a point where He will cease to intrude. He will stop His pursuit. You and I, with our human minds know that forced love is not true love and our Creator, despite His intense love for each one of us, will cease to pursue us and will let us choose. We will decide whether we want to know Him or ignore Him, to dwell in His presence or outside of His presence.
This might be a good place to interject my personal thoughts about our eternal destinations. If your life here on earth was devoid of devotion and attention to God, than even if you were invited admission into Heaven that would probably be more like Hell for you. I believe that you have to work hard to dodge the affections of God. You have to be careful about what you watch, what you read, who you hang around with, and even what you view as you go through your everyday life. God manifest Himself in everything around us that is good and it is difficult to ignore that aspect of our world. But the point remains, Heaven would be Hell for those who wanted nothing to do with God here on earth. He is merely granting those people who choose that path their desires.
In the book of Amos, in Chapter 4, God lays out His case to His people, the people of Israel. His love for them has led Him to allow them to suffer in the hopes that their pain would awaken them to their need for Him. Yet, just like you and I, they also had the freedom to choose. Five times in Chapter 4, God reminds them of the judgement He has allowed for the purpose of their repentance. Five times they ignore the warnings. Then comes these fateful words, "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, . . . prepare to meet your God."
The end result, the final act after all of God's attempts to reconcile His people to Himself, was the statement, "Prepare to meet your God." For on that day, their will be no doubt that He is our God. There will be no more rebellion, no more excuses, no more apathy and no more ignoring of who God really is. He begged His people to come back to Him but His words fell on hard hearts. After multiple attempts, God gave them up to their own desires. Hell, a place devoid of God's presence, is the desired destination for those who have made it known they wanted nothing to do with Him while living on this planet. Heaven, with God's eternal goodness, would be a worse hell for unbelievers because of their desire to live without God. And He will honor their requests for all eternity.
Yes, someday we will all meet God, face-to-face. Our eternal destinations will by them have been chosen by our choices here on earth. So the question really is, "Are you ready to meet your God?"
In the book of Amos, in Chapter 4, God lays out His case to His people, the people of Israel. His love for them has led Him to allow them to suffer in the hopes that their pain would awaken them to their need for Him. Yet, just like you and I, they also had the freedom to choose. Five times in Chapter 4, God reminds them of the judgement He has allowed for the purpose of their repentance. Five times they ignore the warnings. Then comes these fateful words, "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, . . . prepare to meet your God."
The end result, the final act after all of God's attempts to reconcile His people to Himself, was the statement, "Prepare to meet your God." For on that day, their will be no doubt that He is our God. There will be no more rebellion, no more excuses, no more apathy and no more ignoring of who God really is. He begged His people to come back to Him but His words fell on hard hearts. After multiple attempts, God gave them up to their own desires. Hell, a place devoid of God's presence, is the desired destination for those who have made it known they wanted nothing to do with Him while living on this planet. Heaven, with God's eternal goodness, would be a worse hell for unbelievers because of their desire to live without God. And He will honor their requests for all eternity.
Yes, someday we will all meet God, face-to-face. Our eternal destinations will by them have been chosen by our choices here on earth. So the question really is, "Are you ready to meet your God?"
