The Alarm

        How many warnings do you ignore in the course of an average day?  My Mother used to say to me as I was going out without a jacket, "You are going to catch the death of cold."  I usually ignored it and I am still here so I guess I didn't catch it.  My friends in the midwest wrote recently about his radar detector that was screaming at him one time and he slowed down.  That brought me to thinking about the warnings we receive almost every day and many of which we just ignore.  There was an interesting story on Cartalk one day about a young girl who had a car where the check engine light came on and she got troubled with the light so put a band aid over it.  The car later blew up when her father tried to start it a few days later.  We are confronted with all kinds of bells and whistles and sirens every day and we can choose to ignore them and suffer the consequences or take heed to their warning and go on enjoying peace in our lives.  We all know that the Bible contains many warnings in it and unfortunately many have already chosen to ignore the warnings that are written in the pages of Scripture.   Revelation 20:11-12 says,  "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."   

      We often quote John 3:16 and mention the part about God's love, but there is also a warning in that verse.  A failure to receive God's love will result in perishing.  If we believe, then we will not perish, but will have everlasting life.  The above verse from the Book of Revelation, goes into much more detail about the upcoming perishing that will take place if a person decides to ignore the warnings of Scripture.  It is pretty severe when you think about it.  The unbeliever will be cast into hell for eternity and will be separated from God forever.  Even those people who think that death is the end of all existence, will be cast into hell for all eternity.  They refused to take heed to the warning that was given.  People are warned almost every day in some way or another and they still ignore the warning.  Instead, they put on a spiritual band aid over the warning, try to rationalize it away and hope for the best.  This time, God is not saying you will catch the death of cold if you go out without a coat, but that if you refuse His plan of salvation, you will spend eternity separated from Him and everything that is good for ever.  For nonbelievers, the radar is screaming loud and clear, so now is the day of salvation, not later.  Praise God that He has given us His Plan of Salvation.