Are You Ready to Go?

If you knew your life would end tomorrow,  would you be ready?

Several weeks ago a radio preacher made headlines by proclaiming that the end of the world was coming on May 21.  I took special note of this prediction because my youngest daughter was graduating from  high school that day.  Thankfully we had our bases covered, since commencement was to be at 2 pm, and the end of the world was scheduled for six.

 Many biblical scholars countered this man's prediction with Mark 13:32 that says of Christ's coming, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

We know that May 21 came and went without the rapture of the church or the end of the world, and skeptics scoffed at the whole concept of  divine judgement.

Not so quick, I say, Harold Camping made a major mistake, and it cost him his credibility, but he got at least one thing right.  There will be a time when Christ comes back to judge the world and the people in it.  Just because Camping overstepped biblical boundaries and set a date for Christ's return doesn't mean we have the right to throw his whole theology out the window.  Whether you believe the teaching of the Rapture of the church or not, the Bible clearly teaches that one day our life on this earth will end, and we will have to answer for how we have lived our lives.

God always keeps His promises, and His calendar is never off.

In Genesis 15, God told Abraham that his descendents would live in Egypt for over 400 years before God would deliver them from slavery and bring them back to the land of Israel.

Exodus 12:41 tells the fulfillment of the promise.  "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years -- on that very same day -- it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt."

As the Israelites prepared for the exodus, God told them what to do.  First, prepare the passover lamb, and eat it.  God knew they couldn't embark on a journey without food to sustain them.  How he told them to eat it, though, is most interesting.  "And thus you shall eat it:  with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.  So you shall eat it in haste."

 In other words, God was telling them to do what they needed to do, but be sitting on GO.  "Be ready," he told them.

 His message is the same for us today.  "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming--in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning-- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch! Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."   (Mark 12:35-40)

This doesn't mean we sell all our possessions and quit our jobs to climb the rooftop and scan the sky.  Christ warned the early church about that.  What it does mean is that we should live our lives, as much as we can, with no spiritual regrets.

 My sister-in-law Kay lived her life like that.   She served God faithfully and taught generations of kindergarteners how to know her Savior.  She shared her faith boldly.  She served those around her unselfishly.  She laughed often.  She gave to the church.  She forgave quickly and asked forgiveness even quicker.    She lived her life with her shoes on her feet and her staff in her hand.  She was sitting on GO.

On August 1, 2010, she went to bed with a headache and woke up in the presence of her Savior.


If you knew your life would end today, would you be ready?