Several months ago someone asked me if I had always wanted to be an author. My immediate response was, “No, I never wanted to be an author”. Writing books was never something I aspired to. Having said that, I have had a few book ideas in my life. Each time, however, my motivation was to communicate a message.
The topic of Seven Words You Never Want to Hear has weighed heavy on my heart for many years.
The words on the back cover clearly communicate how I feel.
“There is no greater tragedy than for someone to go through their entire life thinking they are a Christian only to hear these seven fateful words at death: “I never knew you; depart from me (Matt. 7:21).
I recently found a piece of paper tucked away in my filing cabinet. The date on it was 1987. It included some thoughts that have made their way into my book including the title of my first chapter, “The Christian Home Syndrome.”
The best way to tell you what has motivated me to write Seven Words You Never Want to Hear, is to share my introduction to the book.
This is why I write.
Introduction
So Much at Stake
After receiving a Bible from a Christian businessman following a show, magician and atheist Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller aired a podcast entitled “A Gift of a Bible.” In it, he said,
If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell, or not getting eternal life, or whatever, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward … how much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed beyond the shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it—as that truck was bearing down on you there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.
Is it possible that there’s a truck bearing down on you or on someone you love, and you or they don’t realize it?
It can be socially awkward to raise that kind of question with someone who’s a professing Christian, but Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 7:21). There will be those who are surprised to hear those seven words you never want to hear: “I never knew you; depart from me” (Matt. 7:23).
Amy Carmichael wrote about “a false suavity” that holds us back. “We are so afraid to offend, so afraid of stark truth that we write delicately, not honestly.”
The great burden of my heart is that you or your loved ones not be on the receiving end of those terrible seven words. It’s easy to live as if there’s always going to be another day, yet one day this life will be over for each of us. I want heaven to be packed with my friends, your friends, and you.
The Bible gives us many tests that can be used to determine if a profession of faith is real. Paul said, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” (2 Cor. 13:5). Since God’s Word is the final authority, we’ll go through a series of scriptural tests to determine what true faith looks like. I’ll also share stories of people whose lives have been transformed by the gospel.
My greatest desire in writing this book has been that it would be a true reflection of the heart of God for the glory of God. It has been written in love and with a sense of urgency. There’s so much at stake. Don’t wait until death to find out if you got it right.
