|
|
|
150,000 People
|
Most of the men and women who died at the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11 did not expect to meet God that day. They went to work, their minds probably filled with thoughts of work and family duties. Why doesn't God tell us ahead of time when we're going to die so we can get ourselves ready to meet Him? Probably because He knows we're such procrastinators, we'd wait till the day of our death to do so. He'd much rather keep us in suspense, so to speak, in order to help us live each day as if it were our last. Jesus told a story once about a rich man who had a rich man's problem: he'd run out of room in his barns to hold all his harvest! (Don't you wish you had that problem? Your bank calls you up and says, "I'm sorry, you have too much money in your account. You'll have to open another account at another bank.") The rich man said to himself, "I know what I'll do. I'll tear down my small barns and build bigger barns that can hold it all. Then I'll retire and enjoy myself!" But then God said to him, "You fool! Tonight your soul will be required of you [e.g., you are going to die], and then who will own all of your riches?" Jesus concluded with the moral of the story. "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, but is not rich toward God." This is a lot like another of His statements, a rhetorical question. "How does it profit a man to gain the whole world, if he loses his own soul?" These are very sobering words, especially for us Americans. We have been blessed with incredible prosperity. With prosperity comes the temptation to make earthly riches the focus of our lives. We concentrate on the temporal and forget about the eternal. We forget about the needs of others and the authority of God and concentrate on meeting our own needs. The worst sin that a man can commit (yes, even worse than the act of destroying the World Trade Center) is making himself the center of his own life. From this self-centeredness flow all the other sins (including terrorism). God tells us that our lives should be centered primarily around Him, and secondarily around meeting the needs of others. Those who refuse to obey Him will get what they wanted (in a sense): a completely self-centered eternity. It's called Hell. But the good news is, God does not force anyone to go to hell. He has provided an "escape route" from the penalty and the addictive power of self-centeredness. You can read about it on my personal web site by clicking here. |
If you had died in the attack of September 11, where would you have gone?The content of this web site is provided for informational purposes only. If you discover that any pieces posted to this site are inaccurate or copyrighted, please contact us immediately. Last modified: 10/05/05Site created by Daniel Bartsch |
