Weekly Devotional 11-25-10 / 8-25-14 What Then?
Recently, I was reminded by a friend of an approach he had used many times with people whom he felt burdened to share the Gospel. After establishing a dialogue he would ask this pointed question, “What then?” Starting at whatever point of life the individual was, he would ask for instance, “When you finish school what do you plan to do with your life?” Or, “When you get out of the service what do you plan to do with your life?” As the other person responded my friend would next ask, “What then?” He would do this with the intention of getting the person to begin thinking about what would follow his or her death. These conversations probably went something like this (My use of the name Ted is for example only),
“Ted, What do you plan to do after you finish school?” “Get a job.” “Great, what then?” “Work and raise a family.” “Wonderful, but what then?” “Retire and travel.” “Sounds great, but what then?” At this point Ted would probably say, “Well I guess I will probably die” to which my friend would ask, “What then?”
The conclusion that my friend was trying to get each person to reach was that physical death affects the body only, and is neither cessation of life nor of consciousness. Further, my friend was attempting to get these persons to realize that it is appointed for man once to die, but after death there is a judgment. What consideration could be more important? Jesus in His sermon from the Mount addressed this issue when He said, “29If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:29-30 NKJV).
My friend used this approach many times, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. That is, by asking the question, “What then?” Those who responded positively were open to a further discussion of their need of being in a right relationship with Holy God.
As there are some who reading this are not yet Christians, I ask this same question of you. After you have lived your life, what then? Jesus’ words above are just as applicable to you (and me) as they were to those He addressed from the Mount some two thousand years ago. This same Jesus in another setting spoke these words, “21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-27 NKJV).
And yet another time He said, “26For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:26-27 NKJV). So I ask that same question of you who are still rejecting the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life. “What profit is there for you if you gain the whole world yet lose your soul?” In truth, there is no profit, only loss. Now some of you may say, well this is all fine and good but I just don’t believe all this stuff. To which I ask does your un-belief change the truth? It does not. One thing is sure, you now exist physically. Are you willing to gamble that what you are now experiencing is all there is to your existence?
What a blessing it is to we who have been reborn spiritually (made alive in Christ by His Spirit); to know that at the death of our physical bodies we will be immediately in the presence of Holy God, and will for eternity enjoy all that is purposed for us. The Apostle Paul being assured of this wrote, “1For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 NKJV).
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power, The Work of God on Behalf of Man
www.gbchurch.us