Deadlines Promote Urgency
By George Stroh
October 17, 2022
Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." (Genesis 7:3)
For most of us, deadlines promote a sense of urgency. If your report is not due until next week, it is probably not a priority today. But if it is due tomorrow, it gets more priority. If you are behind by one touchdown in the first quarter, there is not much urgency to change the game plan. But if there is only two minutes left in the game, there should be a lot of urgency!
Noah understood the concept of deadlines and urgency; Then the Lord said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark." (Genesis7:13,14a) Noah didn't know that he had one hundred and twenty years and he didn't know what God meant when He said, "I am about to...". To Noah's credit he immediately, with proper urgency and priority, began to build the saving ark God had specified.
Jumping head several thousand years; Jesus said, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24:37-39)
We have a deadline and it ought to promote urgency and priorities. There are no promised days for any of us. One day, and maybe soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return for us Christians. The other possible deadline is our physical death. Like Noah, these deadlines, should promote urgency and priority to get busy, in holy conduct and godliness, doing the work the Lord has specified for us; Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God... (2 Peter 3:11,12a)
Maranatha!
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