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“The Last One”
Yesterday was December 7th, “Pearl Harbor Day”. It marked the 80th anniversary of the day the opposing side bombed 8 sleeping battleships, killing 2,403 American soldiers, and injuring 1,178, as all 8 battleships sunk into the deep waters of the Pearl Harbor Lagoon.
At 7:45 AM on that Sunday morning all was quiet. The grey sleeping giants were yawning as the crewmen began to stir. Still, many of the soldiers were below in their bunks having one last dream before the hustle and bustle of ship activity.
And then, at 7:48 AM things changed, and they were never the same from that point on as 353 enemy aircraft, 26 watercraft, and 35 submarines struck the sleeping ships with bombs and torpedoes.
Typically my Advent posts have quite a humorous human side to them, however today, as I reflect upon the 80th year since that tragic day, I am feeling rather somber - not humorous, but definitely human.
Isn’t it daunting how life can change in an instant? These poor soldiers never saw it coming. They were taken by the surprise attack. Their families and loved ones were going to have a very different Christmas that year.
And God watched, I imagine with tears in His eyes, as the creation He had made in His likeness imploded.
How painful it must be for God as He watches His children fight against one another and kill their brother. How does God do it? I can’t imagine the suffering I would go through as a mom to watch my children destroy one another. The pain of watching as they kill their brother or sister would be unbearable.
But, in actuality, don’t we do that all the time, in a manner of speaking? We may not physically kill someone, but we destroy one-another with our words or actions. We can be so destructive whether cognizant or indifferent. Why, are we hell-bent on hurting one another? The news media is full of it today - our selfishness, greed, jealousy, personal agenda and the list goes on…
God is being very tolerant of us and has been for thousands of years. But, one day God’s patience will run out. The book of Revelations in the Bible promises us that. There will be a time when His tolerance of our destructiveness will end. The call to repentance will be silenced.
The Bible says only God knows when the last person accepts Jesus as their Savior, and the era of God’s patience with humanity will abruptly end.
Who will that last one be that prays the prayer of confession, realizing they need a Savior and asks Jesus to be Lord of their life?
Once that happens, as in the Days of Noah, the door will close and those who are safely in the “Ark” will be saved, but those who are on the outside will see a world with Gods patience and tolerance removed.
When my kids were little there was only so much fighting and arguing amongst them that I would take. I would warn them, and warn them, and even threaten them that if they continued they were going to get a spanking. Discipline was in their future if they kept it up.
If they stopped the fighting and played nice, obeying our rules, then I would reserve the discipline. If they did not stop, there was a point when my patience and tolerance was done. I had had “enough”! If I continued to let them go on, someone was going to eventually be crying and possibly get hurt. I loved them too much to let that continue to happen, so the discipline would commence.
I wonder…when will God say, “enough!”? He is much more patient than I am. But how long will He allow us to continue to destroy one another and implode humanity?
From the look of things throughout the world, it doesn’t seem like it will be too much longer.
Why not make that “last one”, before the door of tolerance and patience is closed, be YOU!
If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, I hope you will make that decision soon.
There will be a day when one minute everything is business as usual and the next minute the door is closed and the world as we know it will change in an instant. God’s tolerance of His children hurting one another will be over. And like the sleeping giants in Pearl Harbor, it will come as a surprise and then will be too late.
At 7:45 AM on that Sunday morning all was quiet. The grey sleeping giants were yawning as the crewmen began to stir. Still, many of the soldiers were below in their bunks having one last dream before the hustle and bustle of ship activity.
And then, at 7:48 AM things changed, and they were never the same from that point on as 353 enemy aircraft, 26 watercraft, and 35 submarines struck the sleeping ships with bombs and torpedoes.
Typically my Advent posts have quite a humorous human side to them, however today, as I reflect upon the 80th year since that tragic day, I am feeling rather somber - not humorous, but definitely human.
Isn’t it daunting how life can change in an instant? These poor soldiers never saw it coming. They were taken by the surprise attack. Their families and loved ones were going to have a very different Christmas that year.
And God watched, I imagine with tears in His eyes, as the creation He had made in His likeness imploded.
How painful it must be for God as He watches His children fight against one another and kill their brother. How does God do it? I can’t imagine the suffering I would go through as a mom to watch my children destroy one another. The pain of watching as they kill their brother or sister would be unbearable.
But, in actuality, don’t we do that all the time, in a manner of speaking? We may not physically kill someone, but we destroy one-another with our words or actions. We can be so destructive whether cognizant or indifferent. Why, are we hell-bent on hurting one another? The news media is full of it today - our selfishness, greed, jealousy, personal agenda and the list goes on…
God is being very tolerant of us and has been for thousands of years. But, one day God’s patience will run out. The book of Revelations in the Bible promises us that. There will be a time when His tolerance of our destructiveness will end. The call to repentance will be silenced.
The Bible says only God knows when the last person accepts Jesus as their Savior, and the era of God’s patience with humanity will abruptly end.
Who will that last one be that prays the prayer of confession, realizing they need a Savior and asks Jesus to be Lord of their life?
Once that happens, as in the Days of Noah, the door will close and those who are safely in the “Ark” will be saved, but those who are on the outside will see a world with Gods patience and tolerance removed.
When my kids were little there was only so much fighting and arguing amongst them that I would take. I would warn them, and warn them, and even threaten them that if they continued they were going to get a spanking. Discipline was in their future if they kept it up.
If they stopped the fighting and played nice, obeying our rules, then I would reserve the discipline. If they did not stop, there was a point when my patience and tolerance was done. I had had “enough”! If I continued to let them go on, someone was going to eventually be crying and possibly get hurt. I loved them too much to let that continue to happen, so the discipline would commence.
I wonder…when will God say, “enough!”? He is much more patient than I am. But how long will He allow us to continue to destroy one another and implode humanity?
From the look of things throughout the world, it doesn’t seem like it will be too much longer.
Why not make that “last one”, before the door of tolerance and patience is closed, be YOU!
If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, I hope you will make that decision soon.
There will be a day when one minute everything is business as usual and the next minute the door is closed and the world as we know it will change in an instant. God’s tolerance of His children hurting one another will be over. And like the sleeping giants in Pearl Harbor, it will come as a surprise and then will be too late.
"Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm. All is bright…"
