Stopped by the bank today to make a deposit. The teller, Brendan, asked me if I needed anything else after making my deposit. One question, I asked. How secure is my deposit? He thought about it for a second and asked, what do you mean? How secure is my deposit? Can anything happen to my money while it's entrusted to this bank? Well ... he stumbled. He wasn't really sure how to answer my question. I then asked Brendan, "What about your eternal destiny? Is it secure?" Yes, he said. That's great, I responded. Do you mind if I ask how you know for sure. Like Chris at the grocery store Wednesday, Brendan said "I just know." "How do you 'just know,'" I asked again. "Well, I just know that I know," Brandon insisted. That's good, I replied, but what truth is your "knowing" founded upon. To what is it secured? For example, I continued, Imagine I just stumbled in off the street with a knife in my back and I only had 60 seconds to live. If I asked you what I must do to know that my eternal destiny was securely in heaven, what would you tell me in the 60 seconds before I die? 59 ... 58 ... 57 ... 56 ... He didn't say anything.
I handed him a silver coin tract. The lady in line next to me was staring at me quite intrigued by the discussion. I handed her a coin, too, and she took it and started reading it. I asked her, "what would you tell me in order for me to have eternal life before I died?" She just shook her head, unsure.
I explained the answer using the coins. On one side were the commands. I explained that we've broken all of God's perfect moral law as summarized in the commands and were eternally separated from a holy and righteous God and could no more enter His presence and live than could the earth venture too close to the sun without being completely incinerated. On the other side was the gospel message. I shared that the good news is that though we don't deserve heaven, God sent His son to bear God's just wrath to suffer the punishment we deserve in order that we might be granted the free gift of eternal life if we will repent and believe in Him as our sole source of salvation. I asked them if they had ever repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. They both nodded, yes. That's great, I said. Then 1 John 5:11-13 confirms that you can "know" for sure that your destiny will be heaven. Are you following him today, I asked them? The kind of shrugged as if to say, "sort of." I told them that Jesus said, "follow me and I will teach you how to fish for men." Use these coins to fish for others and lead them to eternal life, because that's the only way to secure your eternal destiny, and you can't take anything with you except other people! I thanked Brendan for helping me and they thanked me for the coins.
I pray those seeds sown will bear eternal fruit!
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