In light of the imminent Christmas season and the thoughts of life, eternity, and Heaven which any death invariably sparks, I’ve felt an urge to make a short addendum to my last post regarding the passing of precious Mei-Mei in China. While we trust and believe that God, in His mercy, does make a place in Heaven for babies and children like little Mei-Mei who are too young and sick to understand the full extent of the Gospel and make a personal statement of faith in Christ*, I am reminded and convicted anew by the fact that all the rest of us will be held accountable in the end for our response to God’s gift of salvation. Any of us of age and understanding to be able to read this post will have to answer to God Himself one day. While this is a tremendously weighty and ominous thought, the glorious truth of this Christmas season is that God has provided a means of escape and redemption from the death and hell that we all deserve because of our sins and separation from God. In the most amazing miracle and Hope-filled moment of all time, God sent His son Jesus to be Emmanuel, God with us, and to live on earth as a sinless human being so that He could pay the full penalty for our sins. This precious Jesus died on the cross for us, rose from the grave, and now wondrously offers us redemption from our sin, reconciliation with God, and life everlasting in Heaven if we will repent and believe in His name. The loss of little Mei-Mei has compelled me, with tears in my eyes and a burden in my heart, to urge anyone reading this who has not yet found the salvation which only Christ offers to do so at once. Life is such a vapor, whether it lasts 5 years like Mei-Mei’s or 95 years, and it will be gone in an instant, leaving us with an eternity to face the consequences of our earthly actions and choices. Please don’t let one more day or another Christmas season pass by without embracing the Hope and salvation that God offers us in Christ and becoming one of His beloved children clothed in the righteousness and favor of His own Son. It is my heartfelt longing and deepest that each one of you reading, whether I know your name or not, will be able to laugh and dance along with me with a restored and perfectly whole little Mei-Mei someday in Heaven and forever praise the Father who has made each one of us new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and restored all of our brokenness.
From the deepest part of my heart to yours, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and may God’s abundant grace flood your life in a new way this holiday season!
“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....For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” –Romans 10:9,10, and 13
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” –John 14:6
*For more on this topic, see John McArthur’s thoughtful book, Safe in the Arms of God
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