This Life Is No Dress Rehearsal

Deuteronomy 30: 19 - 20, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." NKJV

Have you ever met someone who believed that if they didn't get things "right" in this life, they could just do it over in the next one? We know for certain that the Bible doesn't support that belief. The life that God has already given us is the only one we will have. Consequently, what we do with it now will determine where we spend eternity. The Lord told Moses that heaven records our actions on earth, and those same actions will judge us at the end of the age.  

Further, the Lord, through the writings of Moses tells us to choose life while we are still sojourners in this world so that we and our descendants may live. If it really doesn't matter what we do in this life-time, then why does God command us to choose life now? There is no dress rehearsal, and there is no second chance after this life is over. However, once we realize that we have made some wrong choices and committed transgressions against Him, God gives us the ability through His infinite grace to begin again.

Nevertheless, when we start living for the Lord, we don't always get things right the first time. Thankfully, we have been given the Holy Spirit. He will guide us INTO all truth and show us the way to eternal life. He is the Spirit of God, and He dwells within our hearts. Whenever we stumble or fall into sin, He is the One who convicts us of trespasses and brings us back into right a relationship with the Father.

The only thing in this life that is to be practiced is our obedience to the voice of the Lord. Many of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Bible didn't fully obey God at the onset of their faith walk. God's spirit worked with the saints of old and with the disciples as well. However, once they became submitted and committed in their hearts, obedience became their first nature. You see; the Holy Spirit will get us adorned and READY for the day that we stand before our Lord. He works in our hearts perfecting us so that we will not be naked and ashamed when we see our Great Shepherd.

Please take a moment to read the book of Jude. In one short chapter, this man of God deposited very important truths, which teach us to abstain from the corruption of this present world. Jude tells us to separate ourselves from wickedness and from wicked people so that we can live a life that is holy and pleasing unto the Lord. Jude understood the principle that God gave Moses in the book of Deuteronomy about making right choices in THIS life.

Are you living your life as if it were a dress rehearsal? Or are you living each day as if it were the last one before you go to meet your Lord? God doesn't want us to be caught off guard; He wants us to be prepared for the Day that we see Him face to face. Who knows? This could be the Day!

Preparing To Meet My Lord,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Inspirational Thoughts,
Jack Jones
Church Elder