If your fuel gauge dips below an eighth of a tank, you can still run to the grocery store without stopping for gas. But, if you’re cruising through Kansas on an eighth of a tank, it’s time to take the next exit.
Precautions have to do with timing. We don’t save for retirement once we get there, and we don’t buy car insurance after an accident. Planning ahead is about acknowledging risk. It’s preparing for a hurricane six months prior, rather than buying plywood at $100 a sheet.
Considering all the energy and expense we invest in risk abatement, it’s curious how few of us actively prepare for our last day. Despite statistical confirmation that everyone will have a last day, it’s a can we kick. Why? Each of us will run out of time some day. On that very same day we will meet the Person who created us. Face to face. We will learn that He loves us and wants a relationship with us. That He is generous and kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. Why not accept His kind and generous offer of forgiveness today? That’s the best example of long-range thinking I know, and it’s available to anyone who asks. Including those of us who have run out of gas.
Here’s how accepting His offer could sound: Dear God, thank you for creating me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for paying the horrendous penalty for my sinfulness by asking your own Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer through death and Hell in my place. I accept His payment for my sinfulness! Please charge my guilt to His account and adopt me as your child. Thank you!
When I let Jesus pay the penalty for my sinfulness, I enjoy Jesus’ family relationship1 to God. That’s called adoption, and it’s the best long-range thinking any of us are capable of. It’s choosing Life.
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