It was a clear night in the summer of 1995 when American Airlines Flight # 965 from Miami, FL was setting up for the final approach to the Cali Columbia Airport. It was so routine that the crew had been discussing seniority in the company rather than paying close heed to the position of their new Boeing 767, equipped with the latest navigational equipment.
Captain Nick Tafuri called across the yard to his neighbor Monique, when leaving his home in Miami that night “see ya tomorrow night”… but there was no “tomorrow night” for the captain…it was “this night” Luke 12:20.
“Where are we?”
These are the final three words of First Officer Don Williams on the ill-fated flight three minutes before it would plow into the side of a Columbian mountain five miles from the airport, taking 157 souls with it. They came so close to avoiding that tragedy. The First Officer immediately pulled up on the aircraft, but those big turbofans take time to spool up. Their desperate bid for altitude was too late. A reporter so rightly assessed the tragedy in the words… “the most important question came too late”
Some people would like to think that no one knows for sure where they are going, or where they will be when they take that final flight into Eternity. The Bible is given to clearly inform us of our position and condition, and to confirm where we will be forever.
“Where are you my friend?”
As you look at the Two Roads and the Two Destinies chart…which road are you on: the broad road going down to Hell, or the narrow road going upward to Heaven?
There are those who try to convince us that we are going nowhere, and humanity does not have a destination, that we are just in a cycle. If man has no destiny, he has no duty, no obligation and no responsibility. He has no guidelines or goals. Who is to say what is right or what is wrong? Who is to say a partner can’t break and ruin a marriage? Who is to say people can’t live together before they are married? It is your value system against mine!
No absolutes, no principles, no ethics, no standards! Life then is reduced to weekends, paychecks, and quick thrills. If man has no future, really he is is not worth much! However, we know better from the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus said,
Matt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Matt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
A man asked a good question in John 14:5 “How can we know the way?” to which Jesus replied verse 6: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me!”
Had God given 1001 ways to Heaven, the sinner would still want one more because of the nature of his evil heart! The dominant desire of human beings is to go their own way.
Proverbs 4:19 says, The way of the wicked is darkness.
Man has received wrong directions. The devil told him in the garden of Eden that he did not have to listen to God. What did he think would be best? Since taking those wrong directions, man gropes amid ignorance and error. Again the Lord Jesus said that he was the door to the narrow way that leads to life. John 10:9 When a person trusts Christ as their Savior and His work for them at the Cross, taking God’s Word for it…they are declared by God as “saved” Romans 10:9.
All are born on the broad road, taking us downward. We are born sinners. Romans 5:12, Romans 3:22-23
When a person is born again (John 3:3) he is not only saved, but God declares him “his child”. John 1:12-13
Why not take a minute to look at the chart, and ask yourself the most important question before it is too late.
“Where am I?”