You've Got a Deadline
Deadlines are important. Having been in ministry for nearly thirty years, working with volunteers and overseeing staff, and being a dad now for 25 years, I’ve learned that some people need deadlines to get things done. If I say, “Please have it done by 3p on Friday,” they have something to shoot for and they get it done. But with the same people, if I say, “Please get this done right away,” without a specific time or day, it often gets put off indefinitely. Deadlines can serve as a target and some people describe them as freeing, because they know they have to do something by a certain time, and when that time is over, there is a sense of finality. It feels good to meet a deadline and once you meet it, it’s done.
But not all deadlines can be planned precisely. I used to tell my kids to make sure the kitchen was clean “before mom gets home.” Sometimes, she’d get home and they would be busily in the middle of filling the dishwasher, wiping the counters, and emptying the garbage. She arrived sooner than they thought and when the garage door began to open, they dashed into the kitchen to meet their deadline. They didn’t.
There is one really big deadline for all of us that is like that. People put off preparing for it because it seems like it is way off in the distance. They figure they will have plenty of warning. After telling a story, Jesus said in Matthew 24:44, “This is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
That sounds a bit like the deadline I used to give my kids. I didn’t tell them when Linda was going to be home (sometimes I didn’t know). I just told them to make sure the kitchen was clean before that. The deadline was her arrival. Not knowing when would make it a good idea to do it right away.
And that was Jesus’ point. We do not know when we will meet him, whether in death or in his second coming. But that day is coming. It is rare that anyone expects death when it arrives. No matter how long we live, or even how ill a person has been, death always appears before we thought it would and our lives are over in a flash. James said that life was like a vapor, that it may appear to be in full force yet with a simple gust of wind, it vanishes suddenly.
Our lives are like that. You may feel as though you will live forever, but you won’t. Your life will end sooner than you think and more suddenly than you will have time to prepare for. So stop vegging in front of the TV and get into the kitchen and get it clean! Look at Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” The day you stand before God is quickly coming. Thousands before you, in just the last year, have read warnings just like this, just like you are doing now, and have since stepped into eternity.
So...are you ready? Is there anything else more important for you to be prepared for? Anything? You will spend eternity somewhere, and that somewhere is determined in this lifetime. So get it settled! Settle it before he comes back, or before you go to meet him! Settle it before the deadline!
Being ready for that ultimate deadline is as simple as understanding why Jesus came, why he was crucified and believing that he rose again from the dead. By repenting of your sin (sincerely being sorry and desiring to change) and believing in Jesus as Lord and Master, that he died on the cross to provide you with forgiveness, and believing that he rose again, if you simply ask him to save you, he will. He said he would. So if this hasn’t truly happened in your heart and life, then take care of that today. Call on him as your God, Master and Savior, and ask him to forgive you, to save you. He will.
“If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved... For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9-13 HCSB