The Bible Column - Too Late

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” II Peter 3:9
The following is a devotional from Glow In The Dark for August 12, 2011 written by John Goetsch, entitled, “Too Late”.
My flight was scheduled for 5:50am. I set my alarm for 2:30am and was on the road by 3:00am. It was only 17 minutes, according to my GPS, from the church where I had preached to the airport. I had rented a car, so I figured if everything went right, I would have a little over two hours. Everything went wrong. Construction zones were everywhere and it wasn’t long until my GPS was confused. I was getting tired of “recalculating” burning in my ears! The trip to the airport was one detour after another. When I finally arrived, it was 5:30am! I had twenty minutes to make my flight.
I quickly returned the car and sprinted (which at 59 isn’t very fast) to the ticket counter. The rather rude woman there gave me a security clearance but no boarding pass. As I left, she yelled, “You’ll never make it!”
Security lines were short and I knew I had a shot at making that flight; but as I arrived at gate B7, the door was closing and was locked just as I reached for the handle. I went over to the window where I could see the plane with pilot and co-pilot busily making their final preparations. There was an empty seat on that plane. It had been paid for and my name was no doubt called many times over the loudspeaker beckoning me to get on board.
For those in hell today, there was a place reserved for them in Heaven. Their sin had been paid for on the Cross by the Lord Jesus Christ. Many times, He called to them to receive the gift of eternal life, but today they are eternally lost. The door to eternal life is forever closed.
In the Scripture above, we learn of the need for each of us to repent of our sin and turn to the Lord to find His eternal forgiveness. Missing an airline schedule offers another and later flight! But missing Heaven is an eternal loss! The words “TOO LATE” on the outside of Heaven’s door are awesome words indeed! Where do you stand today, dear reading friend?