How many past lives have you lived? I do not mean the foolishness of reincarnation, for the truth of Hebrews 9:27 stands firm.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
But I mean in the terminology of who you once were, those seasons of sin we lived before the Lord called us to Himself. How long did the lust of the eyes draw you towards wickedness, how long before that drawing became the lust of the flesh and it began to compel you, consume you, and you began a life of sin? Soft porn, if there is such a thing, leading to more debauchery, and then to the actual physical interaction with other like-minded sinful persons?
“Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell.” (Prov. 5:5)
How long did you live that life?
That cool, refreshing first sip, sweet on the tongue, rough going down your throat, burning in your belly and altering your thoughts, your perception on life, making it a little easier to walk through it until a day without the liquor became unthinkable?
“They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” (Prov. 23:35)
Just one more piece of cake, one more small slice of pie, another candy bar, the friendship of food, until the reflection in the mirror no longer resembles who you once were?
Moving up the corporate ladder, accolades poured upon you, new items of the world no longer a temptation unattainable, but at your beck and call, losing friends and family, because they will not keep up, they refuse to understand how much you are a necessary part of that business, without you it would fail. The job is not the hindrance, your family is, and the ladder of accomplishment, of pride must be climbed.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
How many of these lives have you lived? One? All and more?
An exceptionally good drug dealer until the products you offered you yourself began to consume, and it drove you to a life on the street. A thief, until the cell became your home. How many lives have you lived, how many rolls did you play, and how many lives were destroyed, altered irrevocably, because you wanted that which you should not have sought after?
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)
Why did He save a wretch like you, why go to the gutter to look for servants, to the pit of despair, to the cast out, to those who not only lived one and perhaps many more of these lives, but sought them out for their own sinful desires, for the pleasures they offered?
“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” (Luke 7:47)
On fire for the Lord it is called, not temporarily, not occasionally, but continually, remembering the gutter, the debauchery, the pit, the sin, never forgetting those lives. Praising always, thanking Him daily, serving with a fervency that all should know, but many tend to forget, taking for granted that which we do not deserve.
Eternal life in eternal joy.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Do yourself a favor my friends, look back on those lives you lived frequently, imagine where you would be if He had not reached down His hand to you that day. Groveling for spare change, stealing to get one more drink, one more hit off the pipe, consumed with lust, a cell for a home, a corporate office with no one who honestly cares about you.
In the grave. In hell.
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33)
That saved a wretch like me.
Like you.
We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, because of His mercy.
