Fear gripped the city of Austin, Texas after a serial bomber left packages, loaded with explosives at people’s homes. Unsuspecting victims opened the unmarked boxes and died or were seriously injured when the packages blew up.
The bombings were on everyone’s minds. The first attacks occurred in a limited area and the bomber appeared to be targeting black people, but it shook everyone up. What kind of person could do that? Was it one of their friends or neighbors? Though the bomber seemed to know what he was doing, one package was tripped by bicyclists and another exploded in a FedEx hub, en route to Austin. Federal agencies responded in force, providing some comfort, but also a reminder that the killer was still out there.
Statistically, only a few people in Austin were directly impacted by the bombings. As the 11th most populated city in the U.S., residents are in more danger of dying in a traffic accident than from a bomb blast. People are seriously injured or die from criminal activity on a regular basis. Add sickness and accidents to the list and the toll of the bombings are statistically insignificant. That was of little comfort to the victims and the fear that had everyone on edge until the bomber was stopped. Is that the end of the danger? No!
There is another reason for fear and the statistics are staggering. 150,000 people will die today and most of them will go to Hell. The problem grows increasingly worse, because the same will happen tomorrow and the day after. With a world population of over seven billion, and hundreds of thousands born each day, 100% of them will eventually die. JESUS said, “wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction… narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 7:13-14 KJV). No matter what the exact number is, “few” will find the way to life and the rest will find destruction! Statistically you should be afraid, because you are more likely to go to Hell than Heaven. How can that be? What is GOD thinking?
GOD did His part. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). JESUS is “the way that leadeth to life” and the HOLY SPIRIT has been drawing us to Him. If you accept JESUS, you move from the way of certain death to the way of certain life. Is that the end of it? No. Get to know GOD through His Word and the Holy Spirit, and then you can point more people to the narrow way “which leadeth unto life.”
Wayne Lance (2018)