Recently I took some expired cough medicine. I didn’t feel good so I went to the medicine cabinet and found the cough syrup. I looked at the expiration date and saw that it had expired over a year ago! I felt so bad, that I took the medicine anyway.
Frankly, I’m not sure that it did any good. It was way over expired and I’m sure it didn’t have any potency left in it. Some foods don’t bother me to eat after they are expired, like yogurt. I can usually eat it a month or two after it has expired. But I won’t drink milk after the expiration date. I swallowed some soured milk when I was a teenager and I’ve been very careful with milk ever since then.
The expiration date on the cough medicine made me think that we have an expiration date too. We were definitely born on a certain date – our birth date and we will have a definite end date – the date that we expire, the time and date when we breathe our last breath. So the question is: What did we do with our time on this earth in between our start date and our expiration date?
How about you? Will you live your whole lives selfishly for yourself? Or have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ our Lord? Have you truly been born again? You had a definite physical birth but have you had a spiritual birth? In John 3:3 Jesus says “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Then Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5 “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” So this of utmost importance. Have you been born again? Have you recognized your sinful nature and that you haven’t measured up to God’s perfect standard? If you are unsure, then please look at the 10 Commandments. Have you ever told a lie? Ever stolen anything? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? Have you ever lusted after someone?
James said that if you break one commandment, you have broken them all (James 2:10). In numerous places the Bible says that there are none righteous (1 Kings 8:46, Psalm 14:1). So if you are honest with yourself and with God, you will have to admit that you are a sinner. If you are never born again and you die in your sins, then God’s punishment will be separation from Him for all of eternity (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). God made a way for you to escape that punishment through Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, then He suffered and died on the cross for guilty sinners like you and me. He rose from the grave on the third day.
But we have to turn away from our sins and put our trust in Him. God calls us to repent and to put our faith in Jesus. When God opens your blind spiritual eyes and draws you to Himself, then you see that you are hopeless sinner like the rest of us, but you recognize the need for a Savior. When God grants you repentance toward Him and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, then He takes away your heart of stone and He gives you a heart of flesh. God also sends the Holy Spirit to reside inside you (Romans 8:9). That’s when you are born again.
Don’t miss the opportunity to get back in right relationship with God. Turn away from your sins and surrender your life fully to Jesus Christ. Do this today. You never know when your next breath will be your last. The Florida man who recently died when his bedroom collapsed in a sink hole, was just sleeping. I assure you that he had no idea that he was going to die that night. Life is short. Please repent and believe the Gospel today. Be born again before you reach your expiration date. There is nothing more important than your eternal salvation. Cry out to God to save you. Turn away from your sins and put your trust in Jesus.