Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Days of Reckoning



For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. -- Luke 21:35


The context here is the not-too-future destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.  The Lord warns us to be watchful lest we become too distracted by the worries as well as the pleasures of life.  That’s an important understanding.  But alone, the verse says something more general. 

All of us “who dwell on the face of the whole earth” will face a day of judgment and reckoning.  It may be as part of some great and noted movement of history – wars, revolutions, reformations, invasions, natural catastrophes of disease or destruction – something that will be written down and remembered.  It can also happen on a very quiet, mostly unnoted, personal level. 

Every day there are thousands upon thousands of people who find their lives turned upside-down.  Unless it happens to us or to someone close to us, we won’t even be aware of it.  It may be the ultimate day of the Lord as we step through the veil into eternity to answer for our stewardship and our lives.  It can also be something like Saul of Tarsus experienced on his way to Damascus.  It may be an unexpected loss or setback or threat in any area of life. 

There are all kinds of reckonings, and all of us, regardless of our place in history or society, regardless of our families, our resources or abilities will have days of reckoning come upon us.  The best we can hope for are two such cataclysms.  The one I have already mentioned.  Death is inevitable and unavoidable.  My standard answer to people who remark about the dangers of riding a motorcycle is that the mortality rate for bikers is 100%.  The funny thing is that it is also 100% for non-bikers. 

The second is not altogether dissimilar: 

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:11, KJV)

This, too, is a crisis, a calamity of will.  To come to the Cross is to recognize our own death in the vicarious sacrifice of Christ.  If we will come to this crossroad and take the right way, when that which comes upon all comes upon us – whatever it might be, up to and including the laying aside of our physical body, it will not find us unprepared. 

4 comments:

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Waiitaminnit, you mean even if I don't ride a bike, skydive, scuba dive, ski, or try to jump the snake river canyon, I'm still not gonna make it without a reckoning?

Whenever someone tells me bacon (or any meat), or whatever is gonna kill me, I like using that line the Waco Kid uses in Blazing Saddles: "When?"

But I like yours too. There's certainly a 100% mortality rate. Even for those who have themselves frozen.
I concur, Dwaine, it's better to be prepared.

mushroom said...

It's almost funny.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

The way Gene Wilder said it is what makes it really funny. He is a comedic genius. Patti and I always cracked up at most all his lines.
Well, pretty much the entire film. Wouldn't have been as good without Wilder though.

mushroom said...

Vickie always liked Gene Wilder, too. He could make anything funny.