On January 5, 1996, Richard Versalle, a tenor with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, was performing in The Makropulos Case. As part of the scene, he climbed up a ladder and sang the words “You can only live so long.” Then he suddenly fell from the ladder. Tragically, the singer died of a heart attack. He didn’t realize those would be his last words. Every one of us will utter our last words someday. It doesn’t matter whether you are an opera singer or a business executive, a world leader or a gang member, or someone famous or unknown. We all will take our final breath. What if yours was today? Where would you spend eternity? The Bible says that “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27 NKJV). There are no second chances after death, but there are thousands, maybe even millions, before. There is no purgatory. You are not reincarnated. There is no opportunity to try to work it out. Once you die, that’s it. But before you die, you determine where you will spend eternity. Today you are living one of two ways. You are living either the right way or the wrong way, taking either the narrow road that leads to life or the broad way that leads to destruction. You are living the happy Christian life, the joyful life, the life with purpose and meaning, or you are living the miserable, empty life separated from God. If you will say yes to Him now, He will say yes to you on that final day. If you say, “Come in now, Lord,” then on that final day in eternity, He will say to you, “Enter in.” But if you say no to Him now, He will say no to you then. It is your choice. The ultimate destination is Heaven or Hell. You decide where you are going to go. |
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