A few weeks ago, I began a needed repair on one of our vehicles. The parts were purchased, the vehicle was up on jack stands and all the necessary tools should have been to hand. Unfortunately, a necessary tool was missing. The job so carefully planned could not be completed without that particular tool.
My search proved fruitless; the tool was nowhere to be found. For some reason, the circumstances proved unusually provocative and a force of anger welled up within me. If some one else had been there with me, they would have wondered why they were suddenly the object of angry words as my frustration found a way to be vented.
Then there was a sound like someone walking up the driveway toward the garage. But nobody was there. It must have been my imagination, or the wind blowing some leaves around.
A chilling thought entered my mind. What if that had been an angel coming to summon me for judgment. What if, before he had spoken, I had vented my anger on him? And then he would proceed to say, “The Master has returned and calls for you to give an account of your life.”
What could I do about that last sin? In fact, what about a lot of other sins that my pride kept me from acknowledging? It would be too late to release that bottled-up resentment that tore at me for what others had done to me. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mk. 11:25).
I thought I was prepared to fulfill the original task. I had not checked in advance, so a key tool was missing. I’d learned my lesson; next time I’ll check things out more carefully before starting the job. A more important lesson had been reinforced — account for all aspects of your life in Christ and see if you are prepared for the call to the judgment seat. The day will soon come when the opportunity to set things right will be gone. Judgment day cannot be re-scheduled. Let us be prepared for that day so the words we hear will be, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One