Mr George (not his real name) met me at the door of the waiting room by the office. In his mid 70s, he moved deliberately, following me through the hallways to the garage in back of the building. He was a kind man, easy to talk to.
Outside, I had to face him and perform the unpleasant task of having him sign a property form so I could turn his truck over to him. Once complete, I was free to return to my duties, but compassion is its own duty.
“Mr George, I am very sorry about what happened to your grandson. I can’t imagine anything worse.”
Due to consequences beyond his control, Mr George took on the responsibility of raising his grandson when he was a child.
Things went well through high school, but as a young adult, the boy got off track. Sometimes God intervenes and rescues foolish people (like me for example), but this was not one of those times. Mr George’s grandson Tom had entered the status of forever young.
“You won’t believe this, but he was a good boy…he really was. Things were great until the drugs came along, and once they got a hold of him, I never got him back. Nonetheless, I still see him as my little boy who followed me everywhere. We had great fun together.”
Tears flowed freely down his face.
“I’m sorry for the trouble he caused. Thank God no one else was hurt.”
Three days earlier Tom was pursued by deputies for multiple offenses. Those who use drugs are quickly used by drugs, and that was what happened to Tom George. Using became dealing, and when dealing did not produce the expected outcome, his restraints regarding all Ten Commandments were cast aside. Violating the eighth commandment became his occupation when he resorted to theft and burglary. Eventually his exploits made him a fugitive with warrants for his arrest, and he ended up in a high-speed chase with law enforcement.
Deputies hemmed him up in a neighborhood where he abandoned his grandfather’s truck and fled. They cut off his escape, and he ran onto the front porch of a house. Deputies surrounded him, but before they could arrest him, Tom pulled out a knife. Showing great restraint, the deputies gave warning and backed away. In an impulse with eternal consequences, Tom drew a knife from his belt and momentarily held it to his neck before slitting his own throat. Moments later, he entered eternity. The effect was quick. He died within seconds.
There was nothing to say, so I listened to Mr George tell stories about the grandson who preceded him in death: picking him up from school, taking him on vacation, and caring for him as a good father. Like any parent, he would have eagerly taken his grandson’s place, but every good parent also knows things don’t work that way. Mr George was a broken man and would die that way.
In my occupation, I have seen the horror of death and the unpleasant consequences proceeding it like grief, shock, and regret, but I have come to learn that death itself is not the worst part. It is the aftermath of death that is the far greater danger. The Bible provides all who will listen with a somber warning: “It is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.”
Judgment falls under the category of justice, and justice is good. It is synonymous with fairness and is in our headlines almost daily…justice for a victim, justice for a cause, justice for wrongs done in the past. All good people are pro-justice until they become the focus of it. When that happens, we enter the realm of solemn aloneness where the burden of proof, or worse, the burden of guilt rides solely on our shoulders: “…for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
Those we depend on and those who love us can’t help us in the realm of personal justice. We must establish our own innocence or face our guilt, and when it comes to ultimate justice after death, the consequences have an eternal effect because the prosecution has all the evidence against us at its disposal. According to true justice, a single violation of God’s law such as telling a lie is enough for us to receive an eternal life sentence of imprisonment in a prison that doubles as a bonfire.
A dead man or woman can do nothing about the dilemma of death and judgment. However, for those who have life in their veins, a solemn warning is given: “God commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a time when he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained and given us assurance by raising him from the dead.”
That man, of course, is Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, and isn’t peace exactly what you and I need? If so, how can this peace be acquired?
Scripture requires of us total, unconditional surrender and faith in Christ alone. Here is what that looks like according to Jesus: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
What each person must do, before it is too late, is to agree with God about our sin, declare spiritual bankruptcy, and trust Christ alone to be the righteousness we cannot be.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Grace and peace to you…
References:
Hebrews 9:27
Romans 3:23
Acts 17:31-32
Matthew 13:44
2 Corinthians 5:22
Exodus 20:3-17
