Articles
There’s a Great Day Coming
There’s a Great Day Coming
For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 12:14)
The Lord willing, we are about to begin a new chapter in our lives as the year 2024 gives way to the new year, 2025. As we begin this new chapter, let us determine that we are going to be firm, steadfast, unmovable in our faith, holding fast to the word of God (1 Cor. 15:58; Heb. 4:14; Titus 1:9; 2 Tim. 1:13; Titus 2:1; 1 Thess. 3:8), striving each day to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 1:5-11), ever keeping in mind that great day of judgment (Acts 17:30-31, 2 Cor. 5:10). We sometimes sing the song that proclaims in no uncertain terms that there is a great day coming when the saints and the sinners will be parted right and left. Then asks a soul-searching question, are you ready for that day to come? Life at its best is brief, death is certain and one day we will take that journey from whence we will not return (James 4:14, Hebrews 9:27). Then comes that great day when saints and sinners will be parted.
On that day all nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And you and I will be right there with them. On that day the great judge will welcome the obedient, the faithful into the kingdom prepared for them and all who have not obeyed Him, who have not been faithful will be condemned to everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Whatever we hear on that day, whether it be, “enter or depart”, is final and irrevocable. There will be no possibility of appealing to a higher court, there will be no termination of the sentence, no being released, it is forever and ever.
Except for the dire circumstance of suicide, none of us control how long we live on this earth but so long as we are sound in mind, we can control how we live on this earth (Heb. 12:1-3, Matthew 6:19-21, Colossians 3:1-2, Ephesians 6:10-18, Philippians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 5:6-9, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, Heb. 4:14). Since none of us know when we will fold up this earthly tent and leave this world, we need to live each moment of each day in a way that you can say, “For to me, to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
I do not know what the days and months of the year 2025 will bring into my life and you don’t know what they will bring into your life. But one thing I do know is that the God I love with all my heart, the God I serve with all my being is in control of my life and I don’t have to be anxious about what any future days hold in store for me (Phil. 4:6-7, Gal. 2:20). How about you, how do you feel about your life? As I think about any tomorrows that lie in front of us, my prayer is that they will be full of happiness, contentment, prosperity, reasonably good health, comfort and peace of mind. But that which I pray for most of all is that when we take that journey from whence we will not return, it will be well with our eternal soul on that great appointed day.
Charles Hicks, Gallatin Tennessee
