This past week, as you know, a lot of people were at the grocery stores and hardware stores purchasing goods in order to prepare for a winter storm. The warning from state officials was that power outages might happen and last for days. Therefore, many were taking appropriate and cautionary measures. I remember when I was a boy that the electricity was once out for a week during a winter storm. If it weren’t for my parents purchasing a kerosene heater prior to that, I do not know how we could have endured the cold temperatures.
Times like these serve as a reminder for God's people to be preparing for eternity. The thing about winter storms is that we know when they are supposed to occur. We cannot say the same about when the Lord will come or when our death may happen. Therefore, the child of God ought to be preparing himself every day. In speaking of Christians who were rich, Paul wrote to Timothy saying, Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:18,19 NKJV). As they do good works, they are “storing up," like making a deposit into a storehouse to use for a later date. This storehouse becomes a foundation upon which one's eternal hope rests (Wayne Jackson, Paul's Letters to Timothy and Titus, p. 186). Are we living like this today?
A challenge to such a mindset is the problem of laziness which affects many, if not all of us at one time or another. One of the errors that promotes laziness is self-deception. One might deceive himself that he has many years left to live on this earth. In one such situation, God called that man a "fool" (Luke 12:16-21). Someone might also think that the Lord's coming will not occur in his lifetime, but Peter wrote, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness (2 Peter 3:10,11)?
The Bible has a lot to say about laziness; therefore, we should give earnest attention to it. In one such passage, Solomon addressed a lazy man with regards to preparing for the future. Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest (Proverbs 6:6-8). The queen does not order other ants to work; she just lays the eggs. An ant does not have to be told to work. She exhibits foresight - "provides her supplies in the summer." This is Jesus' mindset: I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work (John 9:4).
So we see from the Creator all the way down to the ant, the great importance of working and preparing for eternity while we have the opportunity. Should not we exhibit more urgency, diligence, and energy in storing up for that great day than storing up for a winter storm that might only last a few days? It would be difficult for one to endure a power outage if caught unprepared. But how much more difficult, yea unbearable would it be, to endure a devil's hell that will last forever and ever? May we humbly take a valuable lesson from the lowly ant and be wise.
Brotherly, Jamie
