Articles
Ready For The Trumpet?
I have nothing against Tiger Woods. I believe he has done great things and deserves recognition for them. So this isn't about Tiger at all, it's about how our society places priority on things of this world that have no real value when compared to us being ready for eternal life. They may be important, but don't hold a candle to what should be ultimately important.
Tiger had a car crash earlier in the week. #1 headline on almost every media outlet, repeated hour after hour. For almost a day, it was "Tiger, Tiger, Tiger". And they didn't just report what happened, no, it had to come with all the guessing and suspicions raised by other people of why he crashed, and whether or not he would face any charges. I felt sorry for Tiger! The media was in a frenzy about this for a whole day and some into the 2nd day.
If it hadn't been Tiger crashing his car, it would have been something else. They find something almost every day to dominate the news cycle. My question is, will we ever get a day where the news media spends all day in a frenzy telling people to prepare themselves to meet Jesus?
We know the answer is no, so it's up to you and me to do that. People aren't prepared. They are too wrapped up in things like Tiger's car crash, or the Superbowl, or some Hollywood scandal. People go about living life every day as if they are guaranteed tomorrow. The Bible talks about this in various places, one being in Luke 12, where the man says to himself, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry...". He is told his attitude is foolish, because tomorrow will not come for him.
In Matt 24, we are told to keep watch, for we don't know the day or hour. We are warned that we will be carrying on as usual, eating and drinking and getting married, just living life as usual, and suddenly, it will all end. The vast majority of people will be unprepared, having lived life each day worrying about things like Tiger's car crash and not having spent time getting to know Jesus, and giving themselves over to Him in righteous obedience of His commands.
So as our world does its 'ambulance chasing', we would love to see just one day where the media tells people that this life will end some day, and that they need to be prepared to meet their maker. But since we know that will never happen, we must prepare ourselves first, and then do our part in convincing others that they need to do the same. God wants us to live life, and to the fullest (which only comes when we are in Christ), but He wants us to "watch and pray" (Luke 21:36), because "Only the Father knows" (Matt 24:36) when He will sound the trumpet, "and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thess 4:16b-17).
