Time is Short, But It’s Not Too Late

Today, I thought I was going to be late; the boys had neglected to wake up one of their brothers who, because he was feeling ill the night before, was still sleeping in the guest bedroom, and I didn’t discover this fact until 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave the house. In spite of this, my 3^rd youngest managed to pull it off, and we made it in on time! Interestingly enough, this got me thinking about the nature of salvation in the sense that it doesn’t matter when we come to Jesus, whether early on or late in our lives, nor if we come in early, or at the last minute before His return. We need to come, be prepared, and go with Him when He calls. Jesus told a Parable similar to this:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”(Matthew 20:1-16)

Jesus’ point is this: everyone has an opportunity to enter in, regardless of the hour of the day in which they are called. This, I think, should give us an urgency for the Gospel. The Lord is calling people until the last hour of the day, and since we don’t know when they are going to leave this world, or when Jesus is going to enter back in, we ought to seek the lost, that they may come in to His Kingdom to know His great kindness. Like my son, even those who are “woken up” at the last minute still have the opportunity to be on time. Jesus is still raising the dead, and calling the workers in to the vineyard at all hours of the day. Let us, then, with boldness, proclaim the Good News, that Jesus died for our sins, that He was buried and rose on the Third day conquering death, and that He is still calling sinners to repentance, even though the hour seems late!

John 4:31-38

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”