You Should be Afriad!

Bill Brinkworth

Several glass walk-bridges have been constructed. Some Glass bridge of the most famous ones are found in the ubei Province in China.  The longest is 1,600 feet long and spans a 715 foot chasm. Many visitors to the bridge enjoy looking down through the glass panels to see all that is below them through the clear structure.  It must feel like they are walking on air.

Others have been very frightened. In many of the video clips, one can see some that are so scared that they cannot move and have to be escorted off.  Others summon the courage to crawl to safety, as the fear of falling and perishing overwhelms them. I would have liked to have been on the other side of the bridge telling the visitors how to be saved, as the thought of perishing must have gone through many minds.

To make it scarier, one shorter bridge in the Hubei Province installed a frightening device at the end of the trek across the clear-floored overpass.  Special vibration sensors detect a walker approaching the area.  Visual effects make the glass bottom appear to be cracking as the hiker exits the bridge.  Cracking sounds also are activated. One hiker was so scared, that he clung  to the glass side to escape what he thought was his certain demise.

Watching videos of the hikers crossing the glass-walk reminded me so much of the different attitudes people have about their eternity. Most go through life knowing that one day they will die, but it is not something they are concerned about.  They believe they are safe, as they think they have time until they will face eternity.  Although there is not much separating them from the next life, they are not concerned enough about it to address their future.

Perhaps, they are convinced that others have walked the same way they have; and since others are alright and do not seem concerned, they also are not worried about that time.  They know they are close to eternity.  It could happen any minute.  A car accident, heart attack, devastating cancer, murder, or many other methods could instantly end their life; but they try not to think about it and have not made any preparations about where their eternity will be spent. 

They reach a point in their life that they see themselves as who they really are — sinners. They are horribly terrified about where they will spend their eternity.  Because of their sin, they realize that there is no hope of Heaven for them.  They are petrified, as were those on the glass structure, that they will plunge into Hell. They are eager to have an escape from a frightening future.

Someone tells them what the Bible says about being saved.  Maybe they even recall something they were told earlier about being saved from the place of torments. They admit their sinnership to God, and trust Christ as their Saviour.  They become saved from a hellish eternity, and become a child of God. They saw the eminent danger, were scared, and they did something about it. 

There is not much separating any of us from eternity.  For those driving down a paved road, only the yellow, painted line keeps them from having a fatal car crash. Only the grace of God keeps us from having terminal cancer or a life-robbing heart attack. Life is precious, and there is not much keeping us from an everlasting future.

What have you done to prepare for the next life?  Are you prepared?  You may be scared about that reality, but what are you doing about those fears?

Death is eminent for all. Fear when thinking about where one will spend eternity is normal and should not be ignored.  Those concerns are an opportunity to be assured of Heaven.  Are you concerned enough about your eternal future to do something about those fears?  Be saved today!  Do not put it off any longer. You may not have many more tomorrows.
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13:11 

“That only is worth my having, which I can have forever.  That only is worth my grasping, which death cannot tear out of my hand.” — Spurgeon

This article was featured in The Bible View #642.

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