Don't You Dare

The phone rang. On the other end was a daughter's desperate plea. "Dad is dying. And he's backslidden."

His parents had been pastors. And they were gone. ("To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.") They had been praying for their son a long, long time. And can you just imagine their despair over his walking away from Jesus? (Selah~pause to reflect)

But now the doctors were giving him a week to live. And I was going to meet him.

"You know what you need to do," I said to him. "You need to get right with God and you need to do it now."

There was no hesitation. There was no pushing it away. The dad (the son!) who'd long since left the Lord and walked his own path ~ and whose faithful parents died while he was still in that state ~ he prayed the sinner's prayer with me and was reconciled with God.

I preached at his funeral a little over a week later.

Now somebody needs to hear what I'm about to say. And then you just may need to use my same words with somebody else. Here goes...

You don't dare die on your kids and leave them wondering if you made it to heaven or not. You don't dare die on your kids that way.

And don't you dare let your parents (and other loved ones) suffer over your unfaithfulness to Christ. Are you hearing me?

Don't you dare.

You might also be interested in:

• How to Receive Christ (in 30 seconds)
• I Was in the Room When She Died