the narrow door

A couple of weeks ago my friends' dad died when he was struck by a drunk driver while on his motorcycle. My friend is 21 and has four brothers both younger and older than him. This news was obviously tragic and unexpected. Not only was there great mourning over the loss of this man, a father, but there is mourning because we know that he did not believe in God and will spend the rest of eternity in hell... only gazing upon the glory of the Lord and all those in his presence. His life taken before he had expected... his time to pass through the narrow door has come and gone, and it grieves me to know that this man will never experience God's love now.

Then, just this afternoon, Charlie received a call from his mom and learned that his grandma, after a long battle with cancer, had passed away. The family knew that this day was coming, just last month Charlie and I drove down to California to visit with her as he knew we didn't have much time left. Charlie was very close with his grandma, she was a big part of his life growing up and he has a lot of fond memories of his life with her. She loved the Lord and made it very clear that she was not afraid to leave this life when God called her home. And although Charlie will miss his grandma very much, he is comforted and at peace knowing that she is at home with her heavenly Father. She is not suffering anymore but will have a new, perfect body in which to spend eternity. Although there is loss for us, there is joy for her.

Two deaths. Two lives have come to an end. Their souls have both gone to be judged by Jesus, and two very different judgments will be given. Our death is inevitable. One day I will die. One day you will die. Maybe in two months, maybe in six years... you never know. But to live... to really live with purpose is to strive for that narrow door.

And he said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!'" Luke 13: 24-27

Do you really know God? Does God really know you? Or when you knock on the door will he say he does not know you?