THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL

BY REV GOH YONG KUANG

“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

2 CORINTHIANS 6:2 (ESV)

Recently, the pastoral team received a request to pray for an elderly person’s salvation.  Such request often comes with a sense of urgency. This reminded me of a story…..

The demons were having their annual general meeting. The chief devil posed a question to the first demon…

"How many souls did you manage to deceive in the past 12 months?"

“10, Sir!” was the reply.

“Only 10? What did you tell them?" asked the devil.   

“I told them that there is no God."

“What? Who are you trying to fool? Even I believe there’s a God!” retorted the devil. (James 2:19)

The devil then turned to the 2nd demon and asked him the same question, "How many souls did you manage to deceive?”

“20 souls, Sir!”

“Not good enough.  What did you tell them?”

"I told them that God exists, but Jesus is not God.” (John 10:33)

The devil turned to the third demon and asked, “How many souls did you manage to mislead?”

“10,000 souls, Sir!”

“Outstanding!  How did you manage to deceive so many?” the devil asked.

“Well, I told them that there is a God and Jesus is the Son of God...but there is no hurry!”   

Herein lies the problem!  Many people think that they still have time, hence, they are in no hurry to accept Jesus as their God and Saviour. Perhaps some, inspired by the example of the thief on the cross, thought they could wait till they are on their deathbed to make a confession of faith!  

Let us not be deceived into thinking that we have plenty of time and can take our own time to decide. We don’t know if the next breath we take could be our last!

Let us not make the same mistake as the many men and women throughout the ages, who ignored God's repeated invitation...until it was too late! 

Behold, now is the day of Salvation!