A recent report claims that one in four young people have contemplated suicide in the last 30 days. Other reports indicate that there have been more suicides and deaths from drug overdoses than there have been from COVID. According to still other reports, murders have also increased greatly since the beginning of the pandemic. In Los Angeles, for example, murders have increased 20% since the restrictions related to the virus began in the spring.
Of course, depending on what side of the fence you sit on regarding the whole COVID issue, you will either see this as the inevitable result of the restrictions that have been imposed in the wake of the virus, or as the side effects of a virus that continues to kill and that has not been taken seriously by far too many people in society. My intention, however, is not to support one side or the other. My purpose is to point out that people in our country and around the world, and yes far too many within the church have missed the proverbial forest for the trees.
One can forgive unbelievers for missing the real culprit behind all these problems. But to a professed believer, it should be obvious why we're experiencing all this mess: sin! No doubt some will think that such an explanation is simplistic and lacks intellectual weight. Be that as it may, however, the reality of this fact cannot be denied, hard as many try. Eliminating sin from society, whether by using euphemisms such as "mistakes," "errors," and the like, or by simply eliminating any absolute truth is a tried and true technique by those who seek to excuse their bad behavior. Nonetheless, unless one has his head stuck in the sand, the clear effects of sin are all around us to behold.
It matters little what your particular belief about this virus and what its effects, both on bodies and souls, are. The real question is not whether you will get sick, but whether sick or healthy in body you will also be healthy in soul. In Revelation chapter 20, John sees a vision of the end times. And at the end of the chapter in particular, he describes the fate of those who have rejected the mercy of God in Christ.
"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15
To appear before the judgment seat
of Christ without His righteous robes is to face the wrath of God and to be
exiled from His presence...forever. You will indeed be judged by your works, but whether those works will be sanctified by the blood of Christ or will be done in your own human strength will be the determining factor as to where you end up. From this final sentence there is no return.
Regrets and appeals will not work. The end of the wicked and the unrepentant
will be the same: eternal death away from the presence of the Lord. The God who offers His mercy today, will be merciless and unsparing then. It does not
have to be like that, however. God has made a way: "Being justified freely
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through faith in His
blood" (Romans 3:25). Flee to Christ, before it is everlastingly too late!
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