Just a few weeks ago, we learned of a man married to a lady at church (she has come alone all the time I have known her) who is terminal with cancer. He decided to become a Christian, partly, I suppose, because of the good example of his wife. He apparently knew enough about Christianity that he did not want to meet the Lord as he was.
This last weekend, when I saw my mom, she told me of another lady---an old friend of ours---who has pancreatic cancer and has about 3 weeks to live. Lady "A" has been "out of service" to the Lord for years. She had lived where I grew up, then moved north, as we did, to a larger city and become unfaithful. Mom had tried to call her and talk to her about her soul, with bad results. The lady was very unfriendly and acted like she did not want to be bothered. Then, later, like my parents, she and her husband moved back to our hometown, down south in the state where life is slow and peaceful.
But death waits for no man (or woman as the case may be) and Lady "A" found out that her time here is virtually over. She, too, found her way back to church to make her life right before she passes over the eternal sea.
As I spoke with my mother about these cases and others that we have known over the years, we reflected that it was sad that people sometimes have to KNOW they are dying before they get their lives straight. I told Mom that I wonder what God thinks about that---waiting til the last possible moment to "live for Christ."
As Tim and I reflected on these same thoughts later, we spoke of the story Jesus told in Matthew 20. It goes like this:
"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
"At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again around three o'clock he did the same thing. At five o'clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, `Why haven't you been working today?'
"They replied, `Because no one hired us.'
"The owner of the estate told them, `Then go on out and join the others in my vineyard.'
"That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. When those hired earlier came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. When they received their pay, they protested, `Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.'
"He answered one of them, `Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?'
This last weekend, when I saw my mom, she told me of another lady---an old friend of ours---who has pancreatic cancer and has about 3 weeks to live. Lady "A" has been "out of service" to the Lord for years. She had lived where I grew up, then moved north, as we did, to a larger city and become unfaithful. Mom had tried to call her and talk to her about her soul, with bad results. The lady was very unfriendly and acted like she did not want to be bothered. Then, later, like my parents, she and her husband moved back to our hometown, down south in the state where life is slow and peaceful.
But death waits for no man (or woman as the case may be) and Lady "A" found out that her time here is virtually over. She, too, found her way back to church to make her life right before she passes over the eternal sea.
As I spoke with my mother about these cases and others that we have known over the years, we reflected that it was sad that people sometimes have to KNOW they are dying before they get their lives straight. I told Mom that I wonder what God thinks about that---waiting til the last possible moment to "live for Christ."
As Tim and I reflected on these same thoughts later, we spoke of the story Jesus told in Matthew 20. It goes like this:
"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.
"At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon and again around three o'clock he did the same thing. At five o'clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, `Why haven't you been working today?'
"They replied, `Because no one hired us.'
"The owner of the estate told them, `Then go on out and join the others in my vineyard.'
"That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. When those hired earlier came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. When they received their pay, they protested, `Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.'
"He answered one of them, `Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?'
This parable would seem to indicate that there will be no difference in reward for those who become workers in the kingdom in their early lives or at the "five o'clock" hour of their lives. For those of us who would use our human reasoning and yell, "That's not fair!" Jesus replies, in effect, "What are you upset about? Didn't I give you what I promised you I would in the beginning (salvation in exchange for remaining faithful)?"
Who are we to get upset when someone comes to the Lord at any time of their lives? I have known professing Christians who wanted to put some sort of age limit on how old a young person needed to be before they could be saved! My Bible has no such limitation that I am aware of.
We need to be careful that we do not put off doing what we know to be right and think that when we get older, we will straighten out all that is wrong in our lives. Some of us don't get that chance. Like the rich fool in Luke 12, we may be told on any given day by God, "'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" Some people literally gamble with their souls, wagering that they can live life on their terms today, and they will get it all together again later in life. As with all gambling, sometimes you win, but most of the time, you lose.
When someone swallows their pride and renounces their past life and decides to be a Christian at any age (as long as they are old enough to count the cost of discipleship and meet the Lord's requirements for obedience to the gospel,) then it seems to me that the least we can do is welcome them into the kingdom and rejoice with the angels in heaven for their salvation! Any other reaction may land us in the very eternal destiny that we have worked our entire life to avoid!
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