Friday – Prophets

Reading – Joel 3

Highlight Verse:

“Thousands upon thousands are waiting in the valley of decision. There the day of the Lord will soon arrive.”
‭‭Joel‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Joel wrote to the Israelites to warn them to repent before the coming plagues.

While there was and is debate as to the meaning of the different locusts, the message remained the same – repent before it is too late.

We may be beyond the plagues that Joel predicted but, the message remains the same:

Life will be hard. Your days may be limited. You need to repent before it’s too late.

In fact, they say there is only one sure thing in life and that is death (well, taxes too).

I believe that today’s verse is still appropriate for today. Thousands upon thousands stand ready to decide.

The real question is, will we help influence them to decide for Jesus or against?

A quick true story –

I knew a family who went to church many years ago. On one particular Sunday, the mom forced the kids to get ready and get in the car.

When they arrived at the church, the teenage son decided that he was not going in. He sat in the car through Sunday school and church.

When church got out, the mom told the other kids to ignore their older brother because he refused to go to church.

The boy never went to church again. In fact, he had a rather sad life that ended just 30 years later in large part due to substance abuse.

Eventually most of his siblings stopped going to church as well.

I will keep that story anonymous so as not to embarrass any member of that family who might get wind of this post. That said, the story is true.

That mom, who thought she was doing a service to God was actually driving one of God’s children away.

Thousands upon thousands stand ready to make decisions.

How will you and I influence those decisions by what we say and do?