Virtual Devotions

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” – John 10:9

Dear Friends,

Some of the best ideas for my devotionals come from my children.  I think it is because children are thinking many of the same things we are thinking, but they aren’t afraid to ask.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, my daughter asked if Saddam Hussein went to “the bad place”.  I paused and considered her question for a moment and then said that given what I knew about the man, I believed that he did.   This was not my condemnation of the man, but my recognition of what I understand to be true.

If he did go to hell, he did not go there because of his wicked ways.  True, by human standards, he was a horrible person.  But we should not forget that we too are sinners and though by human standards may not be as bad as Saddam, we are as equally guilty before the Lord and are deserving of eternal punishment.

If he did go to hell, he went because he did not trust in the only Gate, the only Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  From what I have heard and read, Saddam went to the gallows with the Koran in his hand and prayers to Allah on his lips.  If he had only confessed with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in his heart that God raised Him from the dead, he would have been saved as the Holy Spirit has taught us through the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Romans.

It would not have been too late.  It is never too late while we still have breath in our bodies to turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith.  I truly hope that he did, by some miracle of grace, make that decision at the end.  Because there is no sin so great that the sacrifice of Christ cannot cover; not Saddam’s, not mine, not anyone’s.  I have no righteousness of my own, but only the righteousness imputed to me by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Should the Lord Jesus not return before the day of my death, I believe that when I do die and go to be with Him in heaven, I will not enter by a key through a pearly gate, but only by the saving work of Him, the One Gate, the outstretched arms of the Lord Jesus Christ waiting to embrace me for eternity.

In His name,

David