"If Only"

By Bro. Wesley Combs

Recently, a young man that lives below my house, was shot, and killed by his younger brother. The young man was only 19 years old. He was a person who had been in and out of trouble for most of his life. I never really knew him, I had just seen him outside, or driving down the road. He came from a very rough family. I never went to his house, or even really talked to him. I never even really thought about talking to them about church. If only I would have thought about trying to be a witness to him.

He was very rough looking young man. You could always hear loud rock music as his mom and her friends were partying in the middle of the night. I never had anything to do with them, nor did I really want anything to do with them. I thought that they were just trouble. If only I would have gotten my pride out of the way and tried to reach out to him.

As I was praying tonight, The Lord told me to go to my window. I looked towards the boy's house, and a thought came to me, so vivid, and so devastating, it put me flat on my face. I could see him in hell, looking up towards me, and screaming, "Why didn't you try to witness to me?! Maybe I would have gone to church with you, but you never even tried!!" He is in hell right now, burning, suffering, in torment that is unimaginable. He will be there a billion years from now, still burning, still suffering. Forever.

My God, if only I would have witnessed to him! If only I would have put effort and thought into it! Who cares what they look like! Who cares what they do, THEY HAVE SOULS! We are no better than they are. It is by God's grace and His mercy that you and I aren't in the same place that young man was. It is our duty to bring other people in. There are thousands upon thousands in hell right now that could have been reached if only someone would have gotten themselves out of the way and tried to see their souls saved. There are millions upon millions more that will suffer the same fate they have. If only we would stop goofing off and get them in the church.

Unfortunately, it is too late for that young man. It is my prayer that God puts a burden in all of us to witness more, to pray more and to fast more. I will always remember the mental picture I saw of him suffering, asking me why I didn't try to win him to the Lord. The Lord has taught me a very valuable lesson through this. I WILL witness more. I don't want to see another soul lost that I could have reached.

Just as we who are saved have places waiting on us in Heaven, those who are lost have places waiting on them in hell. We can still change this! It's not too late for those who are still alive! However, our time is running short. We are one day closer to the Lord's return than we were yesterday. Pray harder, fast longer, witness as much as you can. Don't wait to witness tomorrow, were are not promised that there will be a tomorrow. The Lord's return is so close, you may not even have time to get to the end of this article. Play time is over, get to work. There is no time to waste. We don't want to look back at our family and friends one day and say "if only".

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