Walking By Dead Guys Daily

Picture the people you see each day that you may say hello to or waive to as you pass by but whom you rarely if ever talk to.  You see them when dropping your kids off at school, going to work, going to lunch, at the store, or in the yard or driveway.  Ever think of them as the walking dead?  They very well may be walking dead.  Pleasant thought, I know.  But the truth is you are "dead in your transgressions and sins ... when you followed the ways of this world ... gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts ... by nature deserving of wrath" (Eph. 2:2-3).  Who are the people you pass by each day following? 

Free from wrath in Jesus (1 Thes. 5:9)

If they're following the world instead of Jesus Christ, they're dead in sin and facing the imminent wrath of holy justice (Heb. 9:27).  What will you do to help them escape the wrath to come (Matt. 3:7)?  Will you take time to get to know them?  Will you care enough to help them understand that though they deserve the full weight of God's wrath and justice for their countless sins, God has "great love for us" and "is rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4).  Will you explain to them that when we "repent and believe" in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Mk. 1:15), God makes "us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:4-7).

I pass by two security guards at work each day in the lobby of our building.  We exchange hellos and occasional small talk.  One day, I decided to strike up a conversation.  They did not know where they would spend eternity, but Robert hoped he would go to heaven.  I had the joy of explaining that the bible declares we can know with assurance our destiny will be heaven, not based what we do or our goodness, but based on what God has done for us and His perfect goodness (1 John 5:11-13).  I asked if they believed Jesus is God's son who died in their place so they don't have to and so that God's justice could be fully executed without turning a blind eye to sin and evil.  They did.  I asked them if they had ever repented--turn from following the world to following Jesus.  They hadn't.  I asked when they were going to repent, since they don't know how much time they have left.  They didn't say.  I urged them to repent before it's too late.  I asked if they would think about it, and they said they would.

We had a pleasant conversation.  We parted ways on a great note.  I will follow up with them and see how they're doing.  I will encourage them to trust in Christ and follow him.  I will provide them some additional material that helps them take those key steps of faith and growth.  Pray with me for Derek and Robert--that their names will be written in the Book of Life (Rev. 21:17; 20:15).