Your Final Hours
In 24 hours, you will be dead.
No loopholes. No exceptions. No way around it. This time tomorrow, you will breathe your final breath and that will be that.
What will you do differently, I wonder?
There isn’t time to do everything you wanted to do or hoped you’d do or dreamed you’d do. You’re going to have to prioritize. You’re going to have to decide what matters most on your internal checklist, decide what needs to get done before you go.
It could be there are burned bridges and broken fences that need mending in your relationships. It could be there are words you need to say to people who need to hear them. It could be there are places you want to go, things you want to see, dreams you want to accomplish.
This is it. This is your last chance. These are your final hours.
What will you do with them?
Look, I’m no prophet. God only knows when your final 24 hours will begin, and I hope you have many more happy years before that happens. But I do know this—in the time since you started reading this Sabbath Thought, roughly 77 people have died.
77 people.
Well, 80 now.
Every second, on average, 1.8 people die worldwide. Every second, someone loses the tomorrow they thought they had. Every second, someone’s final 24 hours come to an end.
In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), we find five wise virgins who were prepared when the bridegroom returned. Five wise virgins who had their lamps trimmed and their oil burning. When the bridegroom came back, everything was in order and they were ready. They had accomplished the things they needed to accomplish.
The five foolish virgins didn’t. The bridegroom returned and they weren’t ready. As a result, they lost their role in the wedding. They lost even their privilege to be at the wedding, because they had made other things more important than this momentous occasion.
The lesson?
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matthew 25:13).
How’s your relationship with God? Are you praying as much as you should? Studying as much as you should? Fasting, meditating, and yes, fellowshipping as much as you should? Is seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness at the very top of your list of priorities, or are you planning to seek it during a tomorrow that you were never promised you’d have?
We’re up to 166 now. 166 people without a tomorrow; 166 people who no longer have the opportunity to accomplish the things they were planning on doing later.
If you’ve responded to God’s calling—if you’ve committed yourself to this way of life, if you have the Holy Spirit working in you, then your time is now. Your opportunity to get closer to God and become more like Him is happening in this moment and you can’t afford to put it off until tomorrow.
Tomorrow might not come.
Until next time,
Jeremy
