Are We Prepared For Eternity?

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8ESV).

I was scheduled to preach at a friend's fellowship at Kasoa on Sunday 7th June, 2015. I live at Kuntunse. It meant I will be driving about 3hours on a highway to get to my destination. A total of six hours journey.

Before leaving home, I did something I rarely do. Usually, I pray for travelling mercies. But this time, when I sat by the steering, with the recent disaster that hit our nation fresh in my memory, the reality dawn on me: this could be my last trip. I might not return. There was no guarantee I was going to return.

With fear in my heart and a teary eye, I bowed my head and prayed "Father, If this journey happens to be my last, please receive me home safely through faith in Christ".
Fact is, there is no guaranteed protection from all of lives dangers because you are a Christian. Over the past weeks, stories of people who survived the flood and fire has being circulating. Some assert to an unknown hand that saved them from the fire. Glory to God!

But, while we are sharing the testimonies about how God saved people from the fire and floods, let's not lose sight of the fact that there are, or might have been believers in that inferno who perished. Yes, they perished! The God they served didn't save them. They might have probably prayed in the morning for safety while leaving home; yet they didn't return. Has God abandoned them? Did their faith fail? No, death is inevitable. How we die has no bearing on our level of Faith. "... it is appointed for man to die once"(Hen 9:27). While celebrating the stories of "escape", let's be sensitive to those who lost lives and property. "Mourn with those who mourn", that's biblical.

Let us put away the easy believism where Christians suppose they have an entitlement to life, and God will always deliver them from danger. God doesn't  always deliver from danger including death. We will all die. Some by fire, some by floods, some by disease, some by natural causes. Whatever way we are taken home, one question is important. Are we prepared for eternity?