Deadlines and extensions

Today is April 15, and your taxes would normally be due TODAY. But, in light of COVID-19, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has extended the filing deadline to July 15, and, believe it or not, there are no extra forms to file for this extension! In fact, some of you already may have received your COVID-19 stimulus funds by direct deposit without having even filed your 2019 taxes because the government can use your 2018 tax return to determine the amount and how to send the funds.

Anyway, many areas of our lives have deadlines, such as renewing our driver’s license or car registration, some of which can be done online in New Mexico. I hope the deadlines for getting driver’s licenses are extended in light of COVID-19 because mine expires soon, and the deadline for getting the REAL ID is October. Getting a REAL ID cannot be done online because of the proof of citizenship requirements. Another example of a deadline includes getting a fishing license before we go fishing (I know about that from my college days, which might be a good basis for an article someday).

There’s also a non-extendable deadline for us to accept God’s grace in providing for our salvation by obeying his commands, and everyone will give an account to God when that deadline comes to pass (Acts 17:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:10; John 5:24-30; Acts 2:38-39; 19:1-5).

We just celebrated Easter, which commemorates the reason for Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection during his first coming to Earth so we could be found blameless at the judgment (1 Peter 1:18-19; 2:21-24; Ephesians 5:25-27). We know he’s coming back one more time, but that time, he won’t come all the way to this Earth because the world and everything in it is going to be destroyed (Hebrews 9:27-28; 2 Peter 3:8-13). At his second coming, Jesus will bring with him the souls of Christians who previously died and have been with him in Paradise (Luke 16:19-31; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8). Living Christians will meet with them in the air, and we’ll all go to heaven for eternity (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-58).

Non-Christians still alive at Jesus’ second coming immediately will also find themselves in an imperishable body at the judgment where they’ll learn their fate of eternal punishment along with those who previously died outside of Christ who were being held for the judgment (2 Peter 2:4-9; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 9:47-48). We must listen to God in this life, before Jesus returns, to have any hope of heaven!

We know what’s expected from God’s word for Jesus to come back for us, and that TODAY is the day of salvation (John 14:1-6; Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2). What we don’t know is the deadline for accepting his grace — the date or hour of Jesus’ second coming — except that it gets nearer every day (Matthew 24:31-44; Romans 13:11).

Have you accepted God’s grace obediently on his terms (1 Samuel 15:22)?

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected]