“I just never got around to it.”
This must be one of the worst thoughts of those tormented in hell who heard the gospel in life. They passed through church doors a few times. Maybe they even admitted they were sinners. They were open to being saved — really, they were — and even planned on getting around to it. They did wish to escape the sinner’s fate and be numbered among the great seashore of the blessed; they just never got around to it. Soon — always very soon — they would finally repent of their sins and follow Christ. But death’s arrow didn’t wait.
Charles Spurgeon, preaching on 2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV) — “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” — paints them with a trembling brush.
The great mischief of most men is that they procrastinate. It is not that they resolve to be damned, but that they resolve to be saved tomorrow. It is not that they reject Christ for ever, but that they reject Christ today; and truly they might as well reject him forever, as continue perpetually to reject him “now.”
These wretched souls missed what so many in the land of the living miss today: Christ is an urgent Savior rescuing from an imminent demise. They heard the gospel but never knew it as an earnest gospel, a gospel not promised to be offered again. They never understood, until it was altogether too late, that they frolicked through life upon a tightrope stretching across two mountain peaks with a swirling lake of fire beneath.
Were these people at all afraid? No. Though at any moment, for almost any reason, they could have plummeted to a total demise, though a slight wind could have knocked them down to their doom, though one false step could have undone them, though a single second could have unmounted them forever, they scrolled and laughed and chatted and made halfhearted resolves about tomorrow as though death could never find them and hell could never reach them today.
Though God’s very Son was offered to them, though he plunged the depths below to save them, though he would have saved them, still they would not be saved — at least not yet. These hearers lingered, halted, let the day of salvation pass by for months and years on end. “You go on ahead,” they said. “I’ll be there soon,” they promised. But death closed on them before they closed with Christ. Now was never the right time. Salvation always stood as close, yet as far, as tomorrow.
They delayed following Christ, they neglected their souls, and so they fell into a doom without mercy or relief.
Testimonies from Below
Who would do such a thing?
Who would lazily cast themselves into a lake of fire, consigning themselves to weep and gnash their teeth world without end, all because they never prioritized their own souls or received the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ? Who are these spiritual sluggards who starve to death because, though they touch the plate from time to time, they never bring the Bread of Life to their lips and eat? They have different names and different excuses but the same end.
Let us survey a few such characters we find in Scripture, and try to hear their testimonies rising from the other side.
Mr. Choose-His-Death (1496–1523)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:13–14)
I knew I would die eventually, but when I would die always seemed distant. I thought seriously about the first life, never much about the next one. Always one open to religion, I vowed to myself and my Christian family to set aside time for it in years to come — when life slowed down, when I felt a midlife lull, when I wasn’t busy with other things. I fully expected to live long enough for that time to come.
With great plans and a full calendar and expectations of seeing many more tomorrows — I died. Darkness engulfed me, life abandoned me, and before I could even think, I am dying, I was gone. Gone away. Gone here. Never to leave again.
Lord Ox-and-Field (1842–1925)
A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, “Come, for everything is now ready.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.” And another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.” (Luke 14:16–19)
In that life, I was a successful businessman who never missed an investment opportunity, though I missed more than a few for philanthropy.
After the untimely death of a young protégé, I began to have uncomfortable thoughts about where that youthful spirit might be. I remember visiting a church once or twice and even recall weeping as I heard of the Savior who died to offer me life. But on the doorstep of greater exploration, an urgent business trip carried me away before I closed on the offer I heard. The great business of this world captured my heart; the great business of my soul I kept putting off.
I died with great wealth and much acreage — a pitiful price for a soul.
Mr. Newlywed (1939–2005)
Another said, “I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.” (Luke 14:20)
I remember, very briefly, contemplating the claims of Jesus Christ before I married. I always meant to return. Born beyond the walls of a believing home, the claims of religion held no sway with me. I was mostly content with my own way and tried to be kind to those who were kind to me.
Yet my friend James was different. I couldn’t deny it. He said it owed to him being a follower of Jesus. Something about this man intrigued me. He invited me to study the Bible together, and I found myself touched by the Jesus of John’s Gospel. He was wise and bold and persuasive. But around that time, I met Claire. She made it clear to me from the beginning: She was not interested in religion. With marriage and kids, Jesus fell to the wayside.
After a long life together, one I then considered happy, we both died, hopelessly in love.
Ms. Never-Convinced (1955–1999)
Among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:6–7)
I passed away mid-study.
I stood upon the door of eternal life but never crossed; lived upon the border of the promised land but never entered. All can bear witness that the Bible fascinated me in the final decade of my life.
I had a past; everyone knew it. My sins plagued me, weighed me down, and so I sought distraction in the endless pages of endless books. I don’t know. Maybe this had something to do with why I was ever bedeviled with questions and curiosities but never with decisions and faith. For my part, I assumed that the pursuit of truth stood near possessing the truth. Nearer was my word; I moved toward Jesus as an asymptote — ever nearer, never arriving.
I arrived here instead.
Sir Bury-His-Dead (1863–1915)
Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:21–22)
I wager that few men walked the earth with better posture. I took pride in being the very definition of traditional — by the book, respectful. My manners were unimpeachable; my conduct was well-ordered and duly proportioned.
Mine was the misfortune of burying both my mother and father as a younger man. I prized my father best. I can still watch his once lion-like countenance slowly wither from this world. The last words on his lips told me of his love for God and pleaded with me to follow Christ.
I had begun to investigate the teachings of Christianity with him before he died. I meant to return, but alas, mother grew sick around the same time he passed. After taking care of them, my child was born with disabilities, and my wife sank into depression. I would have followed Jesus, but family matters consumed my attention.
I was a moral man, a family man, and a most devoted son. And now . . .
Tomorrow May Be Too Late
There is no end to such haunting testimonies. Consider, these men and women were entirely insensible to the fact that their lives were held above an unending nightmare by nothing other than the sheer kindness and forbearance of God — the God they continued to ignore and offend. He held out his Son to them day by day; they refused to receive that Son every today. God’s patience was meant to lead to repentance, not away from it.
Reader, repent and believe now. Cry out to God for mercy. Plead with him to make you born again. Give him no rest until he answers. He will answer. Delay, neglect, put off no longer. Christ is an urgent Savior, ready to rescue you from imminent demise. His gospel is an earnest offer — but it has an expiration date. Today is the day of salvation. You are promised no other.
Desiring God