View Site Map

If Tomorrow Never Comes from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

For many years I was captivated by the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I studied charts, timelines, and scriptures and posted them on the wall like an ongoing investigation. I was anxiously waiting for the Lord to return.

Then He began to impress on me how fleeting our lives are in His timeline. The Lord is not in a hurry but patiently waiting on the full harvest to come in. If He had returned one hundred years ago, we would have never been born.

Meanwhile, down here on Earth, our generations pass by, and the dust returns to dust. Oh yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again. But my point is that most of our Grandparents and their fathers and mothers have already gone to Him. Unless that pattern is broken, so will we.

We are all one heartbeat away from meeting the Lord Jesus Christ right now, and each day here could be our last one. Will there be things you wish you had done? Then you should do them now. As Garth Brooks sang, "If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I love her?" No, Garth. Not if you didn't bother to tell her. James said it this way:

(James 4:13–15 NKJV)  Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."

We lost two dear friends recently who were very close in age but were thousands of miles apart, physically, as well as spiritually. Both lived a long full life into their mid-eighties. I mention this because I see too many funerals as a pastor, and I have learned a few things from them.

One of them prepared everything he could for his imminent death. After all, he was in his mid-eighties, and he knew sooner or later it was bound to happen. So he prepared notebooks with accounts and passwords for his wife. He provided her with phone numbers of people he trusted for plumbing, electricians, and who to call if "this" happens. He kept their house in immaculate condition. He had plenty of life insurance, made his own funeral arrangements, picked the music, and even wrote his own eulogy to be read at his funeral. Everything was taken care of when he passed away, and his wife didn't have to worry about a single thing.

I admired my friend's preparation a lot, for our death affects those left behind the most. To Christians, physical death is merely "The Great Retirement." It's God's way of saying, "Slow down..." We will go to a better place of rest with no more pain, sickness, disease, or worries. When it's time, Jesus Christ will welcome us to our eternal home with wide-open arms.

My other friend refused to think about death at all. He viewed discussing the end as a negative confession. As in: "Think positive, and you will live forever." He became ill and went to the hospital but had no arrangements or plans for what happened. When the family tried to talk with him about it, he became angry. So when he passed, it was chaos on the homefront. There was no will. No one knew anything. It took months for the family to plod through the drama and red tape he left behind.

Pretending that you will live forever just doesn't work. Learn to live in the moment and enjoy your life right now, but live as a good person that people will miss when you are gone. Don't neglect taking care of things that would make your loved ones' lives here a little easier when you are gone. Even more so, keep yourself in the faith with a short repentance list, for we don't know when we will be called home.

(2 Peter 3:10–11 NASB)  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness

If we knew for a fact that Jesus Christ was returning at midnight, it shouldn't greatly alter our behavior today. In other words, we should already be living like that, ready to meet Him. The same is true for our death. For we don't know exactly when Jesus Christ will come for us or when we will go to Him. We are not promised tomorrow.

(2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV)  For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Consider the parable of the rich fool who wasn't rich toward God. He thought he was going to live a long time, but God saw it differently:

(Luke 12:16–21 NKJV)  Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' "So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

Too many times, Christians view the return of the Lord Jesus Christ with an escapist mentality. I have heard of people who ran up credit card debt, thinking they would never have to pay it back. That's not the kingdom way of prospering, and it's just going to end with some bad credit. The way to prosper in the kingdom of God is by giving, not by charging. We need to keep a balanced view of the endgame.

We are servants here. So let's be good stewards of what the Lord has given us and live our lives responsibly in light of reality. We should always be prepared for His coming, or our going. We should live our lives ready to die so we will not be caught unprepared when the time comes.

(Revelation 22:20 NKJV)  He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming quickly." Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

You can pray this with me if you like:

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I pray that You help me be prepared for my final day here. If tomorrow never comes, I want to be ready. Please give me peace, guidance, wisdom, and help me make the right decisions. I have put my hope in You. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!