Are You Ready When the Time Comes?

Six years ago on this date, September 11, more than 3,000 people lost their lives in a matter of minutes as two commercial jet airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.

I still remember it very clearly.

Just as those who experienced first-hand seeing J.F.K. shot remember vividly what they were doing at the time of his death, I remember this event so clearly like it only happened minutes ago.

My wife and I had just finished up some shopping we needed to get done at Ikea, and have just reached home. As I switched the television set on to CNN, these horrific pictures greeted us.

I sat with my mouth wide open for hours after, bewildered and aghast at the fact that human beings can be so cruel and heartless against one another, and my thoughts turned towards those who perished in the disaster.

What would my thoughts have been if I were one of those initial survivors who perished in the subsequent collapse of the towers?

Will it be of utter regret for things that I have never done, or never got to do? Will my thoughts be full of flashbacks to happier times and words that I never said, nor have the guts to say?

Or that I had yet to tell my parents how much I love them, or forgive my kin and friends who have done me wrong, or to my wife on how much she means to me in my life?

And most of all, am I really ready to meet my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and have Him say “Well done, faithful servant!”?

There have been conspiracy theories on how the September 11 disaster was an inside job, or how the al-Qaeda was truly responsible.

However, there is one undeniable fact no matter what the evidence points to as to who was truly responsible:

Life is short, and unpredictable.

If there is one more lesson all of us can take away from that day, it’s that we should live everyday in faith and take a stand for Christ Jesus. And if you have yet to make up your mind on calling Jesus Christ Lord and Savior, procrastinate no more, for it is eternity we are talking about here.

Of when we shall return to dust, nobody knows his or her own hour nor anyone else’s. However, what we do know is that it is appointed for man to live once and after that shall come judgment.

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27-28

Yet we all have salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord if only we believe in Him who was crucified and paid once and for all our iniquities with His blood, and who has arisen three days after!

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit

1 Peter 3:18

For God has provided Christ Jesus, His Only Son, as a holy and just sacrifice for the remission of our sins that were borne with us since the first man, Adam, wrought sin into the world through disobedience.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

And by His perfect sacrifice, Christ Jesus is the only one who can reconcile us with God through faith in Him.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

1 Timothy 2:5

My friend, life is short, and there is no time to procrastinate when it comes to a matter as important as your own eternal life. Repent and turn away from your sins today, and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior!

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out

Acts 3:19

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Romans 10:9-10

All that is in this world is transient and become nothing when we are called to sleep, but there is eternal life in Christ Jesus when you repent, confess your sins and with all your heart and mind beseech Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior.

My friend, have you made your decision?

Do not be caught off-guard! Please feel free to email me at ikechua [at] gmail [dot] com if you’d like more information or learn more about God’s wonderful plan for your salvation.

My deepest condolences to the families and people who lost their loved ones in this cruel and thoughtless act. We in the world join you today in mourning your loss.

Shalom Aleichem.