SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

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Dear Friends in Our Lord Jesus:

For more than six decades, the great evangelist Billy Graham has asked his audiences one simple question: If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?

A similar question was asked -- and answered -- a few years ago by the former president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Percy Wooton, who told a story of a very poor big-city neighborhood where a doctor named “Doctor Ray” worked. According to Dr. Wooton, a large part of Doctor Ray’s practice was the treatment of the poorest people in his neighborhood.

“He did this even though they, more often than not, were unable to pay him,” Dr. Wooton wrote. “To make himself more accessible to these indigent people, Dr. Ray set up his office where it could be reached by private staircase, without fear of disclosure. He did this to spare his patients the ordeal of checking in and being noted as charity cases. And for directions to this upstairs haven, there was just a simple sign, bearing only these words: ’Dr. Ray is up there.’ But those words spoke volumes about the doctor’s willingness to serve. When this noble and generous healer at last passed away, his patients wanted to memorialize him with a bronze plaque on his tomb. But, of course, their money wouldn’t go that far. So, in a moment of inspiration, above the grave they placed the sign that had hung outside the door of his office. ’Dr. Ray is up there.’ Dr. Ray IS up there.”

The teaching of Holy Scripture is clear. The Lord Jesus is the way to eternity. In His own words (John 5:24-25), He tells us: “I am telling you the truth. Whoever hears my words and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged, but has already passed from death to life.”

As we make our way through this Easter season, let us ask ourselves the same question: If we were to die tonight, do we know where we would spend eternity? The measure of our life, in the final analysis, is based not on our accomplishments, but on our service to others.

-- The Very Rev. Dr. Steve Sellers +