It's Not the End of the World

            By now, you’ve heard about this Mayan calendar thing.  Supposedly, the ancient Mayans put together a calendar that says the world is going to end next Friday, December 21^st.

            Well, if it does, I going to be really bummed out.  My birthday is December 22^nd.  I don’t want to miss out on the presents and the cake and such.  Maybe I should celebrate on December 20^th, just to make sure.

            Seriously, I don’t for a minute believe that the world is going to end next Friday.  I suppose it could.  After all, Jesus told us know one would know the day or the hour, so I guess there’s no reason to think the world can’t end next Friday, or any other day, for that matter.  Still, I don’t think the ancient Mayans had any special pipeline to God that gave them this knowledge, and I don’t think you probably think they did, either.

            It got me thinking, though.  Suppose you did believe the world was going to end next Friday.  What would you do?  Would you pray?  Would you go see family and friends?  Would you go see a place you’d always dreamed of seeing, or do something you’d always dreamed of doing?  Would you start partying and living it up, figuring it was your last chance?

            A lot of things we consider important in our lives would suddenly seem unimportant, that’s for sure.  Those reports that are due before the end of the year wouldn’t matter much.  Students probably wouldn’t spend much time studying for finals. We wouldn’t be concerned with who’s going to win the Super Bowl.  A lot of the things we spend a lot of time on would suddenly seem pretty small and inconsequential if we thought the world was going to end next Friday.

            Now, I do not mean to suggest that we should all start living our lives as if there was no tomorrow.  That’s not practical.  The chances are that there will be a tomorrow, and we need to be ready for it.  At least some of those reports that are due before the end of the year do matter for next year and the year after.  Students who don’t study for their finals could seriously damage their future prospects.  And even though the Super Bowl does not have any real impact on the lives of anyone other than those involved, it’s okay if we spend a some time on things that are just fun, too.

            At some point, though, even if we don’t see the world end, our time on earth will come to a close.  We only get so much time here and we never know when that time will end.  The older I get, the more I realize how short that time we’re given is.

            It would probably help all of us, then, to spend a little time thinking about how we spend our time.  Are we making good use of the time God has given us?  If not, what do we need to change in our lives?

           
            The world probably won’t end next Friday, but the time we’re given on it could end at any moment.  Let’s try to make better use of the precious time God has given us.