For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23 CSB

Watching an execution is something that I have never honestly wanted to do. In westerns we often see the bad guy being hanged while the entire town of men, women, and children look on. And now we have a supposedly more humane way of executing prisoners through lethal injection. Victims and police officers are allowed to attend the execution. It’s not the manner of the execution that concerns me, but the destination of the soul. Now I know some prisoners turn to Christ and I also know that their physical death for them is freedom and eternity spent in glory.

But what I find really painful are the people on this planet who live their lives in oblivion. They go about their daily lives as if God doesn’t exist. They roam about the planet as if there is no heaven or no hell. Sadly, church pews are filled with those that carry bitterness and hatred and it’s painful to watch them as well.

Our scripture passage tells us that the wages of sin is death. If you commit yourself to sin while here on earth, you will suffer death. Now we are all going to die a physical death, but this is speaking of the death of your soul as it is banished into hell away from God for an eternity of torment. I don’t think there is anything sadder than a human being suffering for eternity, especially when they didn’t have to.

If you are one of these souls that is lost without Christ and suffering here on earth, I can tell you that it’s only going to get worse if you don’t turn to Christ and submit yourself to Him. If you have turned to Him and been saved what are you doing with that? Are you praying for the lost, even those that have turned against you? Are you telling others about the wonderful peace and joy you have found in Christ? Or are you just sitting idly by and watching while others are lost as a goose and headed to hell?

The scariest thing for me is when we witness to those who are lost and they reject it. I have ones that I have tried to witness to, but they don’t want any part of it. They don’t want to be bothered with church on Sunday morning. They have hard hearts and don’t want to forgive those that have wronged them. They want to hold on to bitterness and resentment.

That’s painful to watch. You see, you can see a person hanging from a rope or receiving a lethal injection and have hope that they have made peace with God and have accepted Him. But seeing those you love reject Him is hard to take. I spoke with my pastor about this a while back and he reminded me that sometimes we are merely planting a seed and we can hope that someone else will come along and water it and make it grow.

If you are experiencing that peace and joy that comes through a good, solid relationship with your Lord and Savior don’t stop there. Do your best to lead others to Christ. None of us know how long we have. If you see those that are bitter and living in the sin of unforgiveness, try your best to share scripture and help them to understand God’s love and how we are expected to love others as He loves us and forgive others as He forgives us.

We never know if someone goes to heaven or hell when they leave this earth. We are not to judge others, we can only inspect their fruit. But, my friend, if you have those around you that are unsaved it is your responsibility to attempt to lead them to Christ. If you are unable to do so, then pray for their salvation and for God to put someone in their path to get the job done.

If you have problems with bitterness, resentment, anger, or unforgiveness, ask God to soften your heart. Ask Him to forgive you and help you to forgive others and to rid you of any bitterness or resentment. My friend, I’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt. There was one particular situation where I had to pray about 10 times a day for God to remove bitterness. But He was faithful to do it each and every time. Within a few weeks, He had actually given me a heart of compassion. Trust in God today. There is nothing He can’t do.

Seeing someone headed to hell is just too painful to watch, so don’t sit around and watch, do something.

Have a great day!