The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness as you wait for and earnestly desire the coming of the day of God.  2 Peter 3:9-12 HCSB

I am so thankful to God for being patient with me. I thank Him for waiting for me to get my head screwed on straight enough to make the choice to surrender to Him. I was baptized at the age of 12 and I did well through my high school years and most of my college years. But in my early twenties, I was in church but not living the Christian life. I thought that I could go to church on Sunday and live like the devil the rest of the week and all would be well. I was wrong, boy, was I wrong. It just didn’t work that way.

The worst part of all this is that had I died during that time or had God raptured His people, I don’t think I would have made it into heaven. Now I have a hard time wrapping my head around the whole forever thing, but the one thing I have come to understand is that there is no hope for change if we are sentenced to hell. That is forever. There is no pardon, parole, or communication of sentence. That I understand.

Some of you may have decided to make some positive changes in your life this year. Maybe you have decided to eat better, exercise more, or get organized. But, I strongly encourage you to do one thing before you worry yourself about anything else in your life. Make arrangements for your eternal life. Be sure you know without a doubt where you will spend eternity. Trust me, this is way too big to leave to chance. You don’t want an, “I hope so” salvation, you want an “I know so” salvation.

Our scripture passage today tells us that God is patient with us. He doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. My former pastor used to say that we were not born to go to hell, so if we go there, we go as a trespasser. We were made for an eternity in heaven. But, God gives us free will. He allows us to choose.

This seems like a no brainer, right? Heaven or hell doesn’t sound like a difficult choice to make. I can only tell you from my personal experience that I wanted to go to heaven, but I wasn’t willing to do the things to get me there. It’s kind of like wanting to be a size 4, but not being willing to pass up the brownies and the Cheetos. I wanted to live like I wanted to live and I wanted God to just give me a free pass, but it just doesn’t work that way.

God allowed me to coast along for a while thinking all was okay, but then I began to realize nothing was okay. Nothing in my life was as I had hoped that it would be. The right job couldn’t make it right. No amount of money could make it right. The only relationship that could make it right was the one with my Lord and Savior. Finally, in total frustration, I surrendered all to Him. I promised to live for Him if He would just take this mess away from me. I felt such relief after I talked to Him about this. I knew that He was going to work it all out for me. It was rocky at first because He had to destroy some of the strongholds that were keeping me in the bondage of sin. But, He was with me all the way. He walked me through the fire. He will do the same for you.

Is God still patiently waiting for you? Are you still being wishy-washy about your faith? Are you a fair weather Christian? Isn’t it time you gave it all over to Him? We know He is patient, we just don’t know how long He will wait. None of us know when our final moment on this planet will be. Are you prepared for that? Turn to Him today, He’s waiting for you.

Have a great day!