Spiritual Obituaries

Every single day people die all around us. It is a sad fact of life that we must say goodbye to those we care about. And every single day there are obituaries posted in the newspapers informing the world about death. And they ought to be a stark reminder to us all that the names listed in those obituaries represent real people who either went to heaven or hell upon their death. If we could read of someone's spiritual obituary in the newspaper, what would we read?

"A 17 year old male died in a one vehicle crash as he lost control on an icy highway. He went to hell because neither his parents or his friends ever took him to church to hear about salvation through Jesus Christ."
"A 16 year old female drowned yesterday while canoeing, when she was thrown from her canoe. She woke up in heaven because her mom shared the Gospel with her and she accepted Jesus at an early age."
"A 96 year old former charity worker died peacefully in her sleep at the nursing home early this morning. Seconds later, she arrive in hell because no one ever told her that good deeds don't buy salvation, the blood of Jesus does.
"A 36 year old convicted murdered was put to death by lethal injection this afternoon. Seconds later, he saw Jesus face to face because a prison chaplain told him that all sins can be forgiven when we repent and accept Christ. And he did."
"A 52 year old homeless man was found dead in an alley behind a large grocery store. He went to hell because no one wanted to take the time to share the Gospel with a dirty, smelly vagrant.
"Another 52 year old homeless man was found dead several blocks away in an unrelated incident. He will spend eternity in heaven, because someone had recently bought him a meal and gave him a gospel tract...and he had accepted God's forgiveness after reading the tract.

Every single day people die all around us. There are teenagers and senior citizens, nice folks and mean folks, good-looking people and dirty people, homeowners and homeless, law abiding citizens and law breakers, those that anticipated death and those that never saw it coming. And they all fall into two important categories--those who know Jesus, and those who don't.

Here is the point. You and I are responsible for telling others about Christ. Jesus commands it. It's not an option. It's not negotiable. He says "go and tell." The Bible says in Romans 10:14 says, "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

Every single day, people all around us die and go to either heaven or hell. And that just might be determined by whether or not you and I open our mouths and tell them about Jesus. We might be the only opportunity that they ever have to hear about salvation. What a horrible thing to read in a spiritual obituary, "So and So went to hell because YOUR NAME HERE didn't tell them about Jesus when they had an opportunity." But, what a wonderful thing to read in a spiritual obituary, "So and So went to heaven because YOUR NAME HERE took the time to tell them about forgiveness through Jesus."

Who dies next is unknown. So, let's not waste time or opportunities.