Will we mourn?

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,”
-Proverbs 3:25

There is a fear, I must confess, that lingers in my heart. It is a fear for those I love who do not know Jesus. I have wondered on this quite a lot, and have prayed on it as much.

I fear sometimes because the ruin of the wicked will come. Judgment Day will come, when Jesus judges the righteous and unrighteous and separates us for eternity. For there is a heaven, and those who believe in Him will go there. And there is a hell, and those who refuse to repent will go there.

It’s a very difficult topic to address, and not one I do lightly. The thought of those I love being eternally damned does not sit well with me.

A lot of people cannot reconcile the existence of hell with a loving God. How could He send people there if He is loving? Well, that’s not really what’s happening. All people have a chance to turn away from their own sin and bow a knee to the One who truly deserves worship. All people have that chance, but many refuse and turn away. As C. S. Lewis so wonderfully put it, either a man will say to God, “Your will be done,” or God will say to the man, “Your will be done.” If the man will not accept God, then he does so to his own destruction. It is he who separates himself from God, not the other way around.

Those people I love who have rejected God have done so of their own will. They decided that sex or money or power was better than God, and so they made their choice. I pray that they change their minds, and I will try to help them with that, but it is not my choice to make. I went one way, and they another.

But I fear that day when it’s too late for them to change. I fear the day of their judgment. I should not be afraid.

I should not be afraid because God is still in control, and God can orchestrate the entire universe to His own ends. He is the one who can tell the end from the beginning and guides the course of history to His glory. There is no evil in Him, no sin. Whatever He ordains is ordained for the good.

I may not be able to see it now, but I will. I hope for that day, when the plan is laid before me and I see His glory in every moment of history. I long for that day.

And in that day, it will make sense. It will all fall into place. It will fall together perfectly, to the degree that I will not be able to have the slightest doubt as to His love and mercy. On that day I will respond, “It was best this way. Praise God.”

I don’t know how. It’s not for me to know how. It’s for me to trust Him. When His Son, Jesus, was judged and placed upon a Cross to die, the world could not know what good God had planned for that moment. And yet it was the greatest good of them all, for in His Blood we can be saved.

I still pray that those loved ones repent and trust in Jesus. Maybe they will. I can only place that into His hands. He gives people the chance. Perhaps He is giving you the chance right now. Don’t waste it.