by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
With each second, minute, and hour that passes, our time is winding down, and we are that much closer to death and facing eternity. We have never been this close, yet we keep inching closer as we live.<\/p>\n
God commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day of reckoning (Acts 17:30,31), and He has assured this by raising Jesus from the dead. That was a permanent demonstration that there is life and existence beyond death. So, it is not like we can pretend there will be no judgment and accountability if we wish it away and pretend it is not real. We are inching our way to eternal damnation or eternal life with God, and all <\/b>the preparation work must be wisely done now because final judgment comes down to making wise choices over foolish ones (Matthew 7:21-24).<\/p>\n
The wise think about the King coming for final judgment and how to use today to get ready and stay ready. The foolish “neglect” so great salvation (Hebrews 2:1-4) that is freely offered in Christ (Romans 6:23). The wise know that “great salvation<\/em>” and “no condemnation in Christ<\/em>” (Romans 8:1) is accessible (Romans 5:1) to us in the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16). They have “tasted that the Lord is good<\/em>” and therefore have a craving, like newborn babies crave milk (I Peter 2:1-3). But the foolish never take time to taste the good word of God and the power of it (Hebrews 4:12). They are focused on the visible and temporary, the things that perish, and have no internal insight into the eternal (II Corinthians 4:16f). The clock ticks but they stay blind to their true purpose and destiny. They build their lives on the sand.<\/p>\n Even as the clock keeps ticking, we all know it will stop for us at some point, and the older we get, the more precious each tick of the clock should become. This article is worth some deep reflection, but some “have no time for this<\/em>.” Little do they realize that they don’t have time not <\/b>to think of this.<\/p>\n Are you wise or foolish with your time?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton With each second, minute, and hour that passes, our time is winding down, and we are that much closer to death and facing eternity. We have never been this close, yet we keep inching closer as we live. God commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1260,514],"class_list":["post-69499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-judgment-day","tag-time"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":85335,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-wrath-of-god-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":0},"title":"The Wrath of God (Benton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton God showed His wrath (Romans 1:18) against sin and unrighteousness by destroying the earth with a flood (Genesis 6-9). The markings of that flood are still around to remind us of the wrath of God. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned up with fire and brimstone to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-punishment-for-the-unrepentant-sinner-on-judgment-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":1},"title":"What is the punishment for the unrepentant sinner on Judgment Day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to write and ask you what you teach the punishment for sin is for unrepentant sinners at the final Judgement. Answer: \"... and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63920,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/saved-from-the-wrath-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":2},"title":"Saved from the Wrath of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer To be saved from the wrath of God is generally equated in Scripture with being saved from judgment. It is set opposite of eternal life. For example, Jesus said, \"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-righteous-before-jesus-have-to-wait-for-jesus-death-to-receive-the-promise\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":3},"title":"Did the righteous before Jesus have to wait for Jesus’ death to receive the promise?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does Hebrews 9:15 teach that those that God chose as righteous under the old covenant also had to wait for the blood of Christ for the promise to come into effect? Answer: Salvation to mankind required the offering of a perfect sacrifice for mankind's sins. \"For it is impossible\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28964,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-meaning-of-life-where-are-you-going\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":4},"title":"The Meaning of Life: Where Are You Going?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Having a goal in mind gives direction to the choices that you must make. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The meaning of life is more than what you are doing with your life right now. It is also where you are letting life take you. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One thing is certain, you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83931,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-may-have-confidence\/","url_meta":{"origin":69499,"position":5},"title":"We May Have Confidence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Everything is not up for question and doubt. There are some things we can know and be certain about. John says we \"may have confidence\" (I John 2:28) at His coming. He says, \"By this we know that we know Him\" (I John 2:3). We can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69499\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}