The Difference Between Confirmed And Standby Tickets

Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, pace and smoke, smoke and pace. The difference is caused by the assurance factor. If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would have to stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you smoke and pace? Would you say to yourself, “I don’t know what God’s going to say–will it be ‘Welcome home, child,’ or will it be ‘Depart from me; I never knew you’? (Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels, IVP, p. 113)