World Parties on the Precipice of Eternity

Willfully blind to the fact that mankind stands on the precipice of facing God, the world ushered in the New Year with a sensual party. A telling report in the Bangkok Post was titled “Revellers Around the World Welcome 2013.” Most capitol cities hosted alcohol- and drug-soaked New Year’s Eve parties, but the “party of parties” was in New York City, where an estimated million people gathered and another billion people watched on television and mobile devices. The Big Apple extravaganza climaxed when “the mayor, aided by a bevy of Rockettes dancers, sent the huge, glittering ball down at one minute to midnight.” The crowd went into a frenzy and partiers wished one another a happy and prosperous new year, but it was empty, meaningless emotional mysticism.

All of the New Year Eve partying in the world can’t remove death and judgment or change the exclusiveness of salvation in Christ, and all of the well-wishing in the world can’t change tomorrow’s realities. “It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 7:2-6).

(Friday Church News Notes, January 4, 2013, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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