To Encourage You

Jeremiah 8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Are things going well for you this day?  Are you enjoying your family.  Are you filled with the joy of living?  Whatever your situation, no matter how good things have been or are now, if you are not saved, according to the Bible, you are in a state of great peril. 

Saved from what? – you might ask.  Saved from the wrath of God that is coming upon the earth and upon all those who have never had a relationship with His Son.  At Christmas time, we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  But why did He come?  We are told this clearly in Matthew 1:21 where His birth is foretold: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  If you’ve never been saved from your sins (and you definitely know it if you have been) then, you’ve missed the whole purpose of Christmas.  No matter how much you love the music of the holidays, and the gift giving, and the good food, no matter how good you feel as people wish you a “Merry Christmas,” you’ve missed the heart of the Christmas story, if you are not saved.  You may be in a good place in your life – a time of plenty (as in the harvest of Jeremiah 20 above), a wonderful time (like summer), but these things, which are, like His Son,  also gifts from God, are of no real value to you, for you are in a desperate situation if you are not saved. 

Are you saved?  Do you know you need to be saved?  Do you know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 6:23)?  Do you realize that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)?  Do you realize that death, for those who were never saved, will mean an eternal, hopeless, tortured existence in hell?  Does that concern you?  Do you realize that in spite of this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)?  That’s why He was born into this world, the only reason – to die for you and pay the penalty for your sins.  Do you know that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved? For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9-10).  Please don’t let this day pass you by without receiving the gift that’s been offered to you and that is the most needed thing in your life.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever (that means you and me) believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).”  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15).” 

If you’re a sinner – and anyone who has never received Christ is a sinner – don’t let this day pass you by once again, without salvation.  It may be your last opportunity.