"Not Long!"

"LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?" (Psalms 94:3)
At first, I thought it might have been a mistake; maybe a double-take, or possibly a stutter. But, if you think about it long enough, it turns out to be a pause; a slight pause, but pause enough to consider what is being asked, and just how far the question might be reaching. Okay, I will not toy with you any longer; because the primary fact of the matter is, we all can be just as wicked as the next guy, so it really comes down to, Who are the wicked? Basically, the wicked are those who are guilty of sin or the unrighteous; the two words are the same, there are just different degrees of wickedness. For some, the wickedness they might display is against man, as would be the case of those that would hate or try to destroy Israel. For others, it might be the wickedness they display against God, as is the case in every single person on this earth, at one time or another. Pretty much, that's it in a nutshell; we all fall short of being righteous in one way or another; if anyone could pull off righteousness, then Jesus would not have had to do what He did on that cross. But God, who knew beforehand that we would all fall short, had fashioned a way for mankind to become righteous; even though they did not have it in them to actually be righteous, God designed a way to make it happen, anyway! I was thinking of that verse from Psalms 103, Verse 12; you know, the one that says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." We could continue the debate, is it taking about distance or direction? Or, we could conclude that it's both! I would relate it to a 'U' that has two ends and a way traveled. The two ends represent a beginning and an end, both of which are at the same distance; the space between the two ends represent the direction, down and up. It's like this: when I got saved, back in 1981, I was saved completely; in other words, there was nothing more that needed to be done to assure that my salvation was complete. From that time until the day I leave this earth, I am being saved, God is working out my salvation within me. That does not mean my initial salvation is in doubt, because that salvation is not based upon what I did, doing, or will do, it's based completely on what Jesus did for me. The other end, my friends, represents my completion, which is no further away from the top than the day that I first began. Amen to that...
"But thank God! He made us his captives and continues to lead us in Christ's triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life giving perfume. And who is adequate for such a task as this? You see, we are not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing the God is watching us." (2 Corinthians 2:14-17) NLT