Daily Devotional for Sunday March 2, 2003

The Death of a Prince

(Hebrews 9:27)

The death of a prince. Last July, Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, age 43 and part of the Saudi royal family, died of a heart attack. Prince Ahmed was best known in this country for his ownership of thoroughbred race horses. Among the great horses Prince Ahmed owned was Point Given, winner of two of the three legs of the triple crown two years ago, and last years winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, War Emblem. Prince Ahmed was a man of incredible wealth and incredible stature in the corporate world.

HOWEVER....despite the privilege this man was born into...despite the incredible wealth he inherited and grew in his business career......despite his worldwide fame as the owner of great race horses.....the second his heart stopped beating, Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz stood before God His creator. My friend, death is the great equalizer. I have no doubt that the second Prince Ahmed passed from this life into eternity, there was a man in some part of this world that was also dying. He was a man who had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. However this man was NOT born into the privilege Prince Ahmed was. This man had NO wealth in his lifetime. This man was UNKNOWN to the world. Yet, the moment this man died, he too, was standing before God his creator just like Prince Ahmed.

At that moment when this life is over and we are before God, there is only ONE question. DO YOU KNOW JESUS? You see my friend, it was God's plan to send Jesus to die for your sin, since it is your sins that separate you from a holy God. THAT is why, ONLY faith in Jesus Christ will save you and allow you to spend eternity with the God who created you. Last night I spoke with several friends who minister in Saudi Arabia and they confirmed that Prince Ahmed was a Muslim.

Sadly for him, he had put his faith in Mohammed and not Jesus. You see, Mohammed was simply a man who lived and died like you and I. He was born with the same sin that you and I are born with. Faith in Mohammed can not save you. It was JESUS that God sent to this earth in an immaculate way to be without the sin we inherited from Adam. It was Jesus who lived a sinless life so that He could go to a cross 2,000 years ago and give His live as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Mohammed simply died like all other men. Jesus died too, but was resurrected by God and is ALIVE TODAY!!!

That is why the poor man who also died at the same time as Prince Ahmed, the man with nothing, but the man that knew Jesus Christ as his savior, is forever with God. The contrast is incredible. What is most important to us is a challenge that we face each day during this life. No matter how old we may get, the FACT IS, one day we will all die. Even if we lived to be 200, that is but a blip in relation to eternity. Are we simply living for these few years we have in this life, or are we living this life for the eternity that we will all face?

Sadly for Prince Ahmed, he chose to live for the few years he had on earth and rejected God's plan for everlasting life. Despite his great wealth and power for the few years that he lived, he now has to deal with the reality of an eternity apart from God his creator. While the other man lived this life with very little, he is the real winner. He will live for eternity in the presence of God. I am not saying that you have to live without having the best this life can offer, but what I am saying is that NEVER trade in the best of this life, for the best God has offered you...AN EVERLASTING RELATIONSHIP!!!!

I love you and care about you so much. While you may not have been born into a royal family, and may not have the great wealth Prince Ahmed had, the fact is that YOU TOO can get caught up in living for the temporal pleasures of this life and miss eternity. YOU TOO can get caught up with having "things" and not having Jesus. I pray today that you will take a moment and ask yourself this one question. If I die in the next minute, will I spend my eternity with God, my creator? If you can not emphatically and with 100% certainty say YES, if you have ANY DOUBTS AT ALL, then take a moment and pray, then go to this link, www.liveprayer.com/SPlan.html . YOU DO NOT EVER HAVE TO DOUBT AGAIN WHERE YOUR ETERNITY WILL BE SPENT IF YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO PRAY, READ THESE WORDS, AND ACCEPT THEM INTO YOUR HEART!!!!

Sadly, it is too late for Prince Ahmed. All of the incredible advantages and benefits that he had in this brief life DID not help him when it came to the one and only important question that there will ever be.....DO YOU KNOW JESUS???? Today, YOU can settle that issue and never doubt where YOUR eternity will be spent!!!!

In His love and service, Your friend and brother in Christ, Bill Keller