A little boy was counting the number of times the malfunctioning clock chimed and much to his amazement, the clock struck thirteen times. He quickly ran to his mother exclaiming, ”Mother, its later than it has ever been before!”

Although the clock may be incorrect, the little boy’s statement is truer than he realizes. It is later than it has ever been before. Paul put it plainly when he said, ”now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

As we come to the end of another year, we realize that we are nearer to the return of our Lord than we have ever been before. We’ve heard some complain when they hear talk like this and they almost parrot the words that Peter attributes to the scoffers which say, ”where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

Now of course, no true believer would say this, yet if we become impatient when we hear of the coming of the Lord and say, ”we have heard this since we were a child and he still has not come,” we might not be looking for him with the eager anticipation that Paul and Peter wanted us to have.

Actually the return of Christ is only a heart beat away for any of us. Lately he has come almost weekly, for it seems we have had almost one death each week in the brotherhood in this area. For these who have fallen asleep, Christ has come, for their next conscious moment will be in the presence of their Lord.

We which are alive and remain, need to feel the urgency of the times and realize that there is a day ”when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.” That day is nearer than it has ever been before and we are well advised to prepare for it as if it were tomorrow.

As we count down the few remaining days of 1984, what have we done in the 300 plus days behind us that really mattered eternally? We have lost count how many times we may have brushed our teeth or the number of hours we slept away, but what did we do for Jesus? When we face him at his judgment seat he will expect us to be able to answer that question. Can we answer it now? What did we do for Jesus in 1984?

If we have trouble answering the question now, it can serve as a warning, so that we will be able to have a better answer for the days that may be ahead of us in 1985.

When Jesus says he is going to tell us what they did in Sodom just before they met their destruction, we might brace ourselves thinking we are going to hear some sordid details of sexual perversion, but instead he tells us that ”they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.” This really was the problem with most of the people in Sodom. They simply filled their lives with the things of this life and had no time for God.

As we see the last days of 1984 draw to an end, can we be accused of having filled them with eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting and building? None of these things are a sin in themselves but they are all things that take up our time, our energies and our thoughts. If this is all we did in 1984 we had better plan to put God first in our lives in the days that are ahead or we will be no better than the citizens of Sodom.

”See then that ye walk circumspectly,” says Paul, ”not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” ”Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”