Will You Die Without Jesus?

This is my article that will appear in today's edition of the Concordia Blade-Empire.

Will You Die Without Jesus?

For the past couple of months, I have noticed an ad in the paper stating how many people die due to the lack of health insurance. I am not inclined to enter a debate on either side of this issue, especially since I don’t know the reasoning behind the daily advertisement. The advertisement does remind me of something else, though – everyone dies. With or without insurance, everyone will die. It doesn’t matter if you exercise daily or if you eat lard three times a day, you will die. The big question I haven’t seen many ads asking is this: Will you die without Jesus?

"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." – Hebrews 9:27-28 (NASB)

In these two verses, we read that we have an appointment with death. For some of us, death will come after many years of life or a serious battle with a dreaded illness. Everyone will stand around the casket and say, “Well, it was his time.” For other people, death will come when no one is planning on it. Those are services filled with many tears and people saying, “This isn’t fair”.

For me, death will occur as one of “. . . those who eagerly await Him.” As a freshman in high school up at Belleville, one night at a church revival meeting, I responded to an invitation to trust Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Saviour. Death is still in my future, but eternal judgment has been removed from the picture.

What about you? Are you ready for your appointment with death? If not, you need the eternal life that Jesus Christ offers to those who make the decision to trust Him to be their Lord and Saviour. Swallow your pride. Admit you are a sinner. Turn your back on your sins. Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and invite Him into your heart. The premium has been paid. It is a free gift.

Kent Otott is the Executive Director of North Central Kansas Teens For Christ and has been a part of this ministry in Concordia since 1984.