James tells us: “To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17 KJV; cf. John 15:22). We might as well face the facts, that we not only can be lost because we fail to do that which is right, but it perhaps is the easiest way to be lost. The late J.D. Tant used to preach a series of sermons, the first one being, “Heaven and How To Go There”; and the second, “Hell and How To Go There.”
In the second sermon, he said, “Many people feel that there are some ways to go to hell. But most of them pick the wrong ones. Some people think that the easiest way to go to hell is to be a drunk, but it’s not easy to lie drunk in the gutter. Others think that easiest way to go to hell, is to be a murderer, but it is not easy to spend your life in prison. Still others think the easiest way to go to hell is to commit adultery, but it is not easy to live with your conscience. The easiest way to go to hell, is to be reared in a good home, be taught the truth, know what is right all your life, and just never do it.”
Yes, the easiest way to go to hell, is just by doing nothing. Just “intend” to do it some day, “intend” to study as you should, “intend” to pray and talk with God, “intend” to teach others whom you live with, “intend” to be present for every service, “intend” to give more to the Lord’s work. We will find that each intention becomes another paving block in the broad way that leads to destruction, the road that is paved with “good intentions.”
Dear reader, let us each one stop right now and look at ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word, then let us resolve that our intentions will not only be good, but that our intentions will become a reality day by day.
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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