Ready For My Last New Year
Saturday night was my 50th New Year’s Eve and it is clearly not as compelling as it once was. Kristin and I watched the ball drop on New York time and then went to bed. At midnight, Pacific Time, I was fast asleep and all I remember of the turn of the year was the sound of fireworks exploding far away in the land of consciousness.
This is the norm as people age, isn’t it? We develop a sort of ‘been there, done that’ attitude and resist getting all worked up over things we’ve experienced so many times before. Some even add a measure of cynicism, resenting the thrill that has gone and despising those still chasing it, or even worse, possibly experiencing it.
God’s voice booms as he speaks two clarion words that shock us fuddy duddies awake and bring the partyers up short: “BE READY.” Be ready because this might be the last New Year you ever see. Be ready because King Jesus is going to return and all will stand to give account.
We must be diligent to be ready because we won’t be ready otherwise. We will be asleep, like the homeowner who didn’t know he would be robbed that night. We will be busy getting married, raising families and getting through life, like the people who woke up one morning to a steady rain that didn’t stop until the earth was destroyed.
“BE READY,” God warns. Beware the sleepiness or busyness or don’t-actually-believe-it-ness that would keep you from readiness for the arrival of the King. The fish was right: “Tell that Cat in the Hat you do NOT want to play. He should not be here. He should not be about. He should not be here when your mother is out!”
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.” (Matthew 24:45-46)
My hope for 2017 is to be more ready than I have ever been for the last New Year this world will ever celebrate.
Pastor Toby
Categories: Evergreen Connection