Second Chance              

The Bible says, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” Proverbs 27:1 (KJV)

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” James 4:13-14 (KJV)

Some years ago the two year old son of a missionary couple in Africa became ill with malaria, so they gave him a quinine tablet, but it stuck in his windpipe, and in spite of frantic efforts to remove it, the horrified parents watched their child die, their remorse all the more bitter from realizing that they might have crushed the tablet and given it with a liquid. 

How many things we would do differently if we only had a second chance! 

This tragedy reminded me of two men in the Bible, whose remorse also came too late. Cain, after murdering his brother, and hearing God’s sentence, cried, “My punishment is greater than I can bear” Genesis 4:13. (KJV) 

And Esau, discovering too late, what he had lost by selling his birthright, “cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry” Genesis 27:34 (KJV), but “he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears” Hebrews 12:17 (KJV). 

How many times since then, from the hopeless horror of hell, has each one wailed, “If only I had another chance!” But there are no second chances after death. It is here on earth that men choose heaven or hell, God warning, “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation” 2 Corinthians 6:2.  Tomorrow may be too late.

What should you do before this New Year? 

    Daily Chronological Bible Reading: Revelation 19-22