Priorities Changing

The older I get, the less I’m concerned with life.

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Seriously. I have a good job (that still considers me “essential”). I have a beautiful and loving wife. I have a family that cares for one another.

I currently have food to eat, money to give, and a life to live. But what happens when all that is gone? What happens when I’m hungry, poor, and alone?

I’ll tell you what happens. Nothing. Nothing changes. If I be afflicted with Covid-19 or not, if I run out of ramen noodles and resort to eating bats, if I can no longer find a toilet that flushes or a way to cleanse my nether regions….

The fact is, the biggest problem I will ever face in my life has already been dealt with. What is that big problem? That problem is sin.

That might be a cliche religious word, but it still has weight. The fact that I am a deceitful, lustful, selfish, and vile man is so self-evident, no one that’s ever met me would attest to the contrary.

But no matter how much I’ve spit in God’s face, no matter how many times I’ve decided my way was better, no matter how often I’ve judged God for being “unreasonable,” one fact remains: I have broken His laws; I have sinned against Him; I have made myself to be more righteous than He is.

That is the most pressing issue facing my life today. That one day I will die. And when I die, I am going to stand before a righteous and holy God and have to give an account for every snide comment I’ve offered, every time I’ve looked at a woman with lust, every time I’ve lied, every pornographic image I’ve enjoyed, every wicked thought I’ve ever had. I will have to try and justify such things to the God who created me.

And so will you!

But neither of us have any defense. We will both stand before that judge, guilty as charged, with evidence we could never hope to refute. That our biggest problem.

And yet, that problem has been dealt with. For I have an advocate, a defense attorney, who will stand in that courtroom and declare before the judge: “My client is guilty as charged, but I will accept his sentence myself! Punish me. Throw me in prison in his stead. I will pay the price!”

This advocate, this Jesus Christ, will speak to His father, the almighty judge of the world, and declare: “Set Nathan free. I have already paid the price for his sins; I have fully obeyed your Law on HIS behalf! He is free to go; his fine has been paid!”

Oh, what a beautiful and blessed being this Jesus is! I care not what happens to me during this trial of Covid-19. A mere virus has no power over my Jesus.

Please, if you do not already know who Jesus is, or even if you’ve heard his name yet dismiss him as religious mumbo-jumbo, reach out to me. Let me show you, logically, how real his love is. Jesus is not some mythological being created in the imagination of men…he is more real to me than the air that I breath.

Cry out to the Lord. Repent of your sins. And cry out to the Lord until he has saved you.