YOUR LAST DAY ON EARTH

Have you heard? Minister Harold Camping is predicting that tomorrow, Saturday, May 21, 2011 will be the day that Christ comes. In the unlikely event that you happen to receive this Saturday morning, I was just wondering how you’re spending your last day on earth?

How people handle predictions of impending disaster is really interesting. Our most common reaction is disbelief. Consider this.

How many of us really expected that the Good Friday tornado warnings here in St. Louis would end in disaster? I expected a storm would blow through but the thought that an actual tornado would hit, especially only 1 mile away, didn’t really seem very likely. The tornado warnings were howling. The sirens of emergency equipment were blaring up and down Lindbergh Avenue. Still I didn’t really think we were in danger. We were safe in the basement of the church and never heard the storm’s fury.

Several years ago, just before the Great Recession hit, there were some savvy investors that could see that the housing price bubble was unsustainable. Though these professionals warned us that we were in a very risky market, millions of people thought that it would be others who would be affected. The market crashed and billions of dollars were lost. Two years of foreclosures and unemployment are painful reminders that we were (and are yet) at risk.

Or how about the public health warnings that we hear of from time to time? Do you really think that you are going to catch one of those contagions that are life-threatening? Sure others will be infected, but you? If the doctor tells us we are seriously ill, don’t we just assume we will beat the odds?

Even in the midst of an actual crisis we are slow to believe that what we are experiencing is really happening! Remember 9-1-1. Passengers on the ill-fated planes were slow to come to grips with the truth of their situation. Todd Beamer’s call to for his fellow passengers to take action--“Let’s Roll!” was remarkable not only because it was courageous but because he grasped the situation.

I can remember seeing the sight of the first plane crashing into the twin towers in New York City and thinking that this was just an amazingly horrible accident. Who would have thought we were under attack? In a previous generation, those responsible to defend Pearl Harbor couldn’t believe their radar screens that indicated an imminent attack.

Whether it is severe weather warnings, dire financial predictions, fatal health scares, threats of military attack , or even dangerous political and cultural trends, we are slow to understand our plight and take action.

Truthfully, I believe there are a few more events on the prophetic calendar that must happen before Christ returns. But I am absolutely convinced that He is coming. AND I AM ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED THAT THERE WILL BE A LAST DAY ON EARTH.

IN LIGHT OF THAT TRUTH…AND ASSUMING THAT CHRIST HASN’T COME FOR US…I HOPE TO MEET YOU IN THE LORD’S HOUSE THIS SUNDAY!

If this is our last day I hope that the Lord will find us doing what He would have us do, loving as He would have us love, and being who He would have us to be.

Bible reading, soul-searching, praying, living for Christ, and reaching as many others as we can with the great news of Salvation through Sanctification is a great way to live not only your last day, but your everyday!