You’re driving along and see that the gas is priced at $1.42.  That’s not too bad these days.  But, being pressed for time you tell yourself that you will fill up tomorrow.  You guessed it; the next day the price is $1.53.  You were “too late” to get that better price.  Don’t be too hard on yourself.  It’s happened to all of us.

Or maybe you saw the posting for that great job.  What a fit for who you are and your abilities.  So you thought about it for a few more days.  Maybe you even prayed about it for a few days.  And then you applied…guess what…it was already filled.  You were, again, “too late”. 

Christians in the city of Corinth were also thinking that it was “too late”.  Some of their fellow believers, maybe some of their family members, had died and Jesus had not yet returned from heaven.  They were incorrectly being told, by some, that there was no resurrection of the dead.  Thus, they were of the mind that their loved ones who had passed away were lost forever and so all hope was gone.  They must have been grieving deeply.  Hope for those they cared for had vanished.

BUT, in emphatic, strong, “you don’t want to miss this style” Paul declares, “BUT Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  (1 Corinthians 15:20).  

Paul goes on to say that because of this truth all who belong to Christ will someday be made forever alive.

People of the Lord…in the big, eternal picture it is never too late.

Many times these verses couple the fact of God’s grand grace with the hope of eternal life. One of these is Titus 3:5-7, which concludes on giving confidence for believers in their status as “heirs of Jesus Christ”.