Genuine and Urgent

 Read Proverbs 29

Think on this proverb that begins chapter 29.

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes

    will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

We do our best to live God’s way.  Sometimes we mess it up.  Sometimes we miss the mark.  Often, we confess and give it another try.  We love mercy and grace and forgiveness that we just never deserved.

What about those who are just so stubborn that they won’t take any counsel, including God’s. What about those who know better and don’t even give it an effort?  What about them?

We forgive, not just seven times but seven times seventy.  That’s some big-time forgiveness right there, but when is enough finally enough?

That’s not for us to say, but wisdom does say there will come a point when those who have hardened their hearts against the Lord have reached a point of no return.  God is constantly calling for sinners to repent and receive his mercy, grace, and forgiveness.  He desires none to perish.

But the choice to remain stiff necked, obstinate, hard-hearted or hard-headed at some point voids the chance for redemption and it’s gone in an instant.  He may have had a million opportunities—opportunities that he thought would always be there—but now they are gone.

They don’t’ gradually slip away.  At whatever the tipping point is—and that ball is squarely in God’s court—it will seem as if the chance for redemption was gone in an instant. It seems that destruction came suddenly.

In reality, many warnings were given.  The assumption that many more will always follow is flawed.  That mindset is called presumptive sin. It’s the thought that I will always have one more chance. At some point, it’s game over.

For the saved, this is a moot point.  We believe.  We profess Jesus is Lord! Our knees have already bowed before him.  We are trying to be known as his disciples by our love.  We believe!

But what about those who don’t believe and continue to resist despite our best efforts?  What happens when the song goes from softly and tenderly Jesus is calling to I never knew you?

What happens?  More precisely, what are we to do?

As long as it is called today, we deliver a genuine message of salvation, knowing that one day, we will not be here to deliver that message.  One day, the lost person’s life will end.  One day some will hear I never knew you.

We must never quit being known by our love.

We must let our light shine every day so people may see the glory of God.

We must be the salt of the earth all the time so people may taste the goodness of God.

We must proclaim the good news—fulfill our commission until the end of the age or our time in these bodies expires.

There is an urgency to our message.  We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know our message must be delivered today.

So long as we are genuine in our love and our message and our urgency, the hard-headedness of those who will not hear is not our burden to bear.  Our hearts may hurt for them, but their stiff-necked rejection of the truth is not our burden to bear.

Speaking the truth in a spirit of love is our burden to bear.  We must not be shy in delivering the message that there is God’s way and there is everything else.  Life lies in God’s way.  Destruction is the destination of those who persist to live in the everything else.

Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes

    will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.

When you wonder about the urgency of your message—of the good news, consider the last two words in this proverb—without remedy.  Some say with no hope of healing.

God’s invitation to return to him seems to have no end, but one day the invitation will cease and judgment will be delivered.  God is not slow in bringing about this day.  He is patient desiring that none perish, but the day will come.

We will not know his wrath, but we do know his heart.  His heart desires none to perish.  Our part is to be genuine and urgent in our message of life.

The rejection of our message is not our burden.  We do all that we can and then we rest in the Lord’s peace.

We are to be genuine and urgent.

We must be genuine and urgent.

Genuine and Urgent!

Amen.