By Lynna Clark
“May the Lord bless you and keep you; May the Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious unto you; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” -Numbers 6:24-26
The New Living Translation says it this way:
‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace.’
Tonight, instead of listening to all the clutter from the day, let this simple blessing become a prayer for the ones you love. And I will pray the same for you.
Jesus told many stories in order to illustrate eternal truths. How beautiful and colorful His word pictures were. One of those seemed less illustrative and more like the telling of something He sadly witnessed firsthand.
He told of a rich man who died and went to a place of torment. The man was so thirsty that he begged Abraham to send someone to him with just a drop of water to cool his tongue. When Abraham explained that there was a great gulf fixed between the place of torment and paradise, the rich man begged that someone would go to his brothers, who were still living, and warn them.
He pleaded: “If someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.”
Jesus continued the story with this sad ending:
“If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.”
Isn’t it interesting that while telling that story, Jesus knew that He would soon do that very thing? That even though He chose to pay for sin by giving His life and rising from the dead, there would be many who would not listen, who would not believe until it was too late.
If you’re reading this, you are of course on this side of the grave. You still have a choice. How sad it would be to spend eternity in torment when at this very moment you could call on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you.
He’s already done the hard part.
Will you listen?
Easter is a very special time for me. During Easter of my junior year in high school, I understood for the first time, that Jesus was not waiting on me to clean up my life. He knew when He created me that He already loved me enough. He invited me to trust Him, and I listened.
The verse that sealed the deal for me was 1 John 5:13.
“I have written this to you who believe on the Name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Yes! We can KNOW! Because it’s not about us!
It’s about Him.
Now go get yourself a cold drink of water while you still can. Call on Him to save you while you still have breath.
And have the happiest Easter of your life!
The story about the rich man is in Luke 16:19-31. More about salvation is revealed in John 3:1-21 when Nic came to Jesus at night to ask questions. Ephesians 2:1-10 makes it even clearer.
May the Lord sweetly and wonderfully strengthen you with the wisdom to choose Him!
