Do you feel you are close to death at this moment. If you do, don’t feel alone because in fact all of us, at any point in time, are close to death. It could happen to any of us at any moment through countless ways. The bible says: “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).” The question is are you ready for the judgment that comes after death. The bible further says:  “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad(2 Corinthians 5:10).” Are you ready for that day to come?

What determines whether we have done good or bad in this life. By what standard are we to be judged? Jesus said: “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day (John 12:48).” If you believe the bible and I insist that we must for we have no other way that God has presented for us to know and worship Him, you can see that we will be judged once our life is over by the words which Jesus and his representatives, the Apostles have spoken to us and recorded in the bible.

We must not reject Jesus and the words of Christ or we will be lost come the final judgment. Those who accept Christ and do God’s will by obeying Him will be judged fit to enter heaven and those who reject Christ will be sent to everlasting torment (Matthew 25: 31-46). Should we take the chance that we might die at any moment not having done the things which God has taught us through His Son that we must do?

The first step, once we believe and repent of our sins, is to obey Jesus in baptism, since He himself commanded that we be baptized for the remission of our sins (Mark 16:15-16; Matthew 28:18-20). We shouldn’t think that baptism is such a strange thing and why would Jesus require it, but we should just accept it and realize it is the least we can do since He died on the cross to make our salvation possible in the first place (Romans 6:10;Hebrews 10:10).

We must obey Him by repenting (turning away from sin and toward God) and being baptized so that our sins may be forgiven us. If we do not we will be rejected at the last day and sent to that place of eternal torment. It is not enough to live what we think is a good life, but we must do the things that God would have us do, since it is through His Son that he defines what is good in the first place. If we refuse to do the things God would have us do we cannot really be said to be doing good in our lives.

So, if you feel close to death and we all should in a sense, it is high time you get your soul prepared for the next life. Do the things which the Lord requires (see “plan of salvation” above) and then continue in Christ by doing what we find in His word as the pattern for our lives as long as our life continues. This is the only way we can be ready for the judgment to come. Let’s obey Jesus before it is too late and we no longer have the chance. Once our life here is over we face the judgment and we will have no more chances to obey Him.

May God bless and keep you until next time.