Commentary: Just passing through

Ralph Fudge

In 2 Corinthians 5:1, the Apostle Paul tells us, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Jim Reeves was a very popular country singer in the 1950s. He recorded a beautiful song entitled, This World Is Not My Home. Billy Graham alluded to this idea in a sermon he once gave entitled, “This World Is Not Your Home—Living for Heaven.”

Many people have acknowledged the fact that none of us will live permanently on earth. Hebrews 9:27 warns us, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Life on earth is very temporary. That is the main reason God demands that we worship only Him. We are to live so as to give God glory. That is the reason we are here. Too many people are unwise enough to doubt that God even exists today. They think they should grab all the wealth and good things of earth while they are alive, never realizing how short is the time they have to hold onto often ill-gotten gains. If only people, young and old, could realize the transitory nature of life on earth!

Satan has twisted man’s thinking. He has perverted his mind into thinking that old age and death are too far in the future to worry about. How foolish! This is understandable in young people, but it is also observed in old ones. I witnessed to an 85-year-old man in assisted living one time and asked him to believe in and receive Christ as his Savior. All the man could say was, “Not today, preacher. Not today.” I wanted to shake him into realizing that he was living his last years or even his last days. I wanted to ask him, “Well then, when?” But I did neither because I know that each day the heart of an unbeliever becomes more hardened to the point that one day it is no longer able to believe in and say “yes” to Christ.

I constantly urge my congregants to invite and exhort people to church, where they could hear the truth of the gospel. Sadly, most people today do not want to attend church. Unlike the way it was a couple of generations ago, today there are too many distractions, even at home. Satan has made much progress by use of television, Hollywood, and the internet. The devil has managed to persuade possibly the majority of our people today that the gospel and Bible are myths. He has even made people think of Christians as weird or superstitious. If a Christian were to even use the name of Jesus in mixed company, he would be thought of as strange and shunned.

Because of this, few Christians are willing to mention the name of Jesus Christ or even God. They fear being rejected and thought weird. What they need to remember is what the Lord declared in Matthew 11-12. He said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Because of this, instead of fearing man (other people), we should welcome any form of persecution for the Lord Jesus. Persecution for Christ is one of the greatest things we can experience on earth. Let us not fear it, but embrace it when it occurs. May all Christians witness for Christ due to love and concern for those destined for hell.

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Ralph Fudge is the pastor of Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in Coolidge, Ga., and has a Master’s degree in theology from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.