According to my old neighbour in Saskatchewan, someday is often a useless word that means nothing. Except when its hidden deadly side means the end of everything. He told me bluntly, “Too many people spend their lives in a fantasy called someday. Someday they will get this or that or have their dream home, or nest egg, etc., but their death comes on a particular day, hour, minute and second to end their someday plans. Dying someday could be any day, sometimes, without any advanced warning.”
I told Ed I agreed with him, and he made me think of the quote by Muhammad Ali: “Live every day as if it were your last because someday you are going to be right.”
Ed is cranky and hurting right now because his nephew recently died in a car accident, and he feels it was way too early for his nephew to die. The unexpected death of a loved one can make us resentful or angry, especially if it seems the person should have had many days and years of life yet to live. Death leaves us questioning, “What now?” Is there more than a gravesite in a cemetery after our final day?
Much as we would like to keep our own death and the death of a loved one someday far in the future, there is no way to ignore death is coming our way. However, we can rejoice there is hope beyond our death. God has promised in Isaiah 51:6, “But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.”
God’s salvation is often summed up in the words of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus Christ was and is our righteousness that will never fail.
God's word does not promise our lives, and the world will become better and better but that, “The heavens will vanish like smoke, the Earth will wear out like a garment. ” (Isaiah 51:6) God warns there will be great distress before Jesus or the Son of Man returns from heaven to gather to him those who believe in him. There will be wars and rumours of wars, nation will rise against nation, there will be earthquakes, famines, family strife, persecution for those who believe in Jesus, false Christs, lawlessness and great confusion.
Mark 13:24-26 is specific, “The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time, men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the Earth to the ends of the heavens.”
Jesus warns us that no one knows the day or hour of his return, so we must be on guard and alert for his return. Jude instructs us that, as we wait for the arrival of Jesus Christ to gather us to eternal life, we are to build our faith by praying in the Holy Spirit as we keep ourselves in God’s love.
