Sept. 29, 2014
Respectfully and with hesitation, i was reluctant to finish this devotion. But it was inspired by a friend as follows:
As I sitting a week ago by the bedside of a dying friend at 4 am, I began to write this devotion in honor of my friend. I was comforted to know he is a follower and believer of Jesus Christ.
What does that mean? That because Jesus came and died for our sins, we have the gift of eternal life available to anyone who confesses their wrong doings and believes in him.
Romans 10:9
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
2 Corinthians 5:1
1For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
25 minutes after starting to write this devotion, my friend took his last breath at 4:25 am.
At that very moment, i was reading the following verses and preparing to type them into this devotion.
2 Corinthians 5:6-9 New International Version (NIV)
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
My friend was now absent from the body and present with the lord. Wow, what an exciting thing to be out of this broken and evil world and be in heaven with no more pain and sorrow. He was a testament of faith in Jesus. He believed in his heart and was justified. He would want everyone to know Jesus. So if you don’t know Jesus, now is the time because we have no guarantee of tomorrow.
If you died at 4:25 am tomorrow, do you know for sure that you will go to heaven?
My friend did.
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