Day 53 - Courtney Seemed Cold

I struck up a friendly conversation with a woman at the store today. She said she had 15 minutes before her shift ended and she could go home. She was excited. She was counting down the minutes.

I felt that was a perfect opportunity to swing the conversation to the spiritual. I asked her how much time she had left in this life. Obviously, she didn't know the answer to that question. I asked her what she thought would happen at the end of her life. She didn't answer. She seemed to go cold on me.

I handed her a gospel tract and encouraged her to read it before it was too late, "because nothing's more important than your eternal destiny." She looked at it for a second and then set it down near her register. Another customer walked up, and Courtney had finished checking me out and bagging my items. I handed a tract to the lady that walked up in line behind me and encouraged her to consider the million dollar question on the back. "Have a great day, Courtney," I said, and encouraged her again to consider her eternal fate.

In my personal time in the word this morning, I covered Joshua 18. It seemed to relate to Courtney if my assumption about Courtney being cold to the gospel was correct. I recalled the following passage:

"The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The country was brought under their control, but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance. So Joshua said to the Israelites:

"How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you (vv. 1-3)?"

God had given the land to the Israelites. Five of the tribes had taken possession of the gift and were enjoying it. But, seven of the tribes still needed to go in and take possession of the free gift that God had bestowed. It was there for the taking. There to enjoy. There to rest in. What were they waiting for? Finally, Joshua urged them to stop waiting and receive the gift.

Similarly, God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life and the wrath of God abides on him (1 John 5:11-12; John 3:36). What is Courtney waiting on? Why won't she simply repent of her sins and trust in Christ alone for salvation in order to receive and take possession of the free gift of eternal life, an inheritance in a "land" that will never fade away and that cannot even begin to compare to the best things of this temporal life? I pray she will take that tract, consider her fate, and take possession of God's free gift of life and choose Him today!