Call to repentance never 'inappropriate'

I attended a memorial service recently and was delighted to hear the minister extend what is typically referred to as an “altar call” at the close of the service.


The minister appealed not only to those who have yet to surrender their lives to Jesus, but also to those who might have accepted the Lord’s salvation but “wandered away.”


My disappointments were 1) an unresponsive audience and 2) a subsequent suggestion by a fellow believer that the altar call was “inappropriate” at a memorial service.


What?! Could there be a more “appropriate” time to speak God’s truth? To tell of His Son’s sacrifice and the need to receive His grace?


I am happy to report that the memorial was held for a 101-year-old sister who was faithful to the Lord and is face to face with Him today and for eternity.


I know without a doubt she would have heartily endorsed the minister’s appeal. She would have applauded his effort to touch the hearts of any of her precious loved ones who do not yet know the hope of joy and life that comes when we repent and receive Christ’s gift of salvation.


The Christian memorial service is absolutely an opportunity to celebrate the blessed life of a loved one, and the stories told are often a testimony in themselves. But the reality is, the person being memorialized is gone – absent from this life, present with the Lord for eternity.


The chance to speak to the unsaved, to the person who has dropped Christ’s hand in his or her daily walk – is an opportunity that must be embraced. What a perfect time to remind Christ followers of the urgency to witness as the Holy Spirit provides prompting and opportunity.


We do not know when this life will end, no matter our age. We can know today what the next life will be … we can run into the open arms of Jesus and be assured our names are written in The Book of Life.


My thanks to this minister, and to any others who reflect the love of Jesus in bringing the “hard” message of our mortality and spiritual death without the cover of Jesus Christ’s blood.


Make us bold, Lord Jesus, as we await your soon return!


“Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” James 4:14


“He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5

The Old Rugged Cross

I pulled off the highway when I saw the little white church on the hill. It was an old Catholic church with a long, winding stairway from the street. Fall colors provided the backdrop for a cross covered with moss. I sent the photo to a friend and he responded immediately with four words: "The Old Rugged Cross." It's good to have friends who share a passion for the "classics." It's wonderful to have a Savior whose obedience to the Father, love for mankind, opened the door to life eternal!

"...and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24

Love in Jesus must "flow forth"

Once again this morning, I was convicted by the words of the late Charles Spurgeon. The following is an excerpt of a Spurgeon devotional making it clear how personal appreciation/embrace of Christ's love MUST inspire the Christian to act on his or her faith:

How much do you owe our Lord? Has He ever done anything for you? Has He forgiven your sins? Has He covered you with a robe of righteousness? Has He set your feet upon a rock? Has He established your goings? Has He prepared heaven for you? Has He prepared you for heaven? Has He written your name in His book of life? Has He given you countless blessings? Has He laid up for you a store of mercies, which eye has not seen nor ear heard?


Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love.


Give not a mere word offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you must confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to His poor or to His work.


Denounce such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Who will accept a love so weak?


Think how He has loved you, and given Himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin.


For Christ's sake let the Holy Spirit make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service.


Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labor.

Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honor Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardor never to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone (magnet) draw us heavenward toward itself.

"But one who looks intently at the perfect law, and the law of liberty, and abides by it, not becoming a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does." James 1:25

"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13