Thomas à Kempis said more than 500 years ago, “For a small reward, a man will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, many will hardly take a single step.’
Now half a millennium later, this observation is still true. Human nature has not changed. Think how far people will travel for a small and often fleeting reward, such as a midnight madness sale, and yet how few have time to read the Bible, the word of God, which has the key to eternal life written in its pages.
By our actions we show what is important in our lives. There is no doubt that we are living in the last days just prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will establish God’s kingdom on earth and rule the world from Jerusalem. Never before in history have these words of the apostle Paul been more true, “Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.’
Yet, not many are willing to take even the first step towards preparing for this momentous event, a cataclysmic change that will impact every single person, and that is about to take place right here where we live.
Just how excited are we as followers of the Lord to be taking those necessary steps to be ready when he comes? He certainly has warned us to be ready, for, as he said, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’
Every day we hear of events taking place in the world that are signs Christ told us to look for just prior to his return. We cannot say we were not warned when we see earthquakes in diverse places, we see floods, tornadoes and hurricanes destroying whole towns, and we see that almost every state in our nation, as well as the cities and the school systems, are going broke. There are crises everywhere. Sometimes we may think that these things only happen to other people we do not know in faraway places like Greece, which is bankrupt, or Libya and Egypt and Syria in political turmoil and war, but some of these catastrophes are happening in our own neighborhoods.
Our brethren are affected by earthquakes in New Zealand and elsewhere. Certainly the powers of nature are impacting adversely many we know and love in all parts of the world. Fires in Australia and Arizona, tornadoes in Missouri, New England and the Deep South, floods and other extraordinary natural disasters. Certainly men’s hearts are failing them for fear all over the world. How many of those in the world are turning to God as a result of all that they are experiencing? The book of Revelation predicts that ungodly men in the last days will react by blaspheming the name of God, who has power over these plagues, and will not repent nor give Him glory. Certainly in our secular world, mankind prefers to blame problems with nature on global warming, pollution, or pure chance. Anyone who suggests that God is reaching out to warn mankind is regarded as a lunatic by many.
We see people traveling far distances at great expense to bring supplies and help to those who are devastated, but most still will not take a single step to prepare to meet the one who stopped the wind from blowing and made the sea calm. The Lord has given us many signs to warn us that the end is near, but the world at large is not noticing. Amos tells us, “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Mankind has no excuse if the warnings are ignored.
When Thomas à Kempis said over 500 years ago that people will hurry away on a long journey, folks had to travel by wind driven boats or horse drawn vehicles. In our world we can travel to and fro at break neck speed all over the place to get those small rewards. Yet so few are willing to take the necessary steps to read God’s word and seek eternal life, the only reward truly worth having.
Paul accurately describes our days when he says, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” These people have plenty of time for fun and pleasure, but no time for God.
The lesson for us is to listen to Paul’s advice and turn away from those who have no time for God. We need to make time to read His word and seek first His kingdom, because it is coming soon. Let us heed the words of Jesus when he says, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One