This week the Associated Press issued another in a series of urgent bulletins. The basic message: Time is running out! Commerce Secretary Gary Locke made a pressing appeal for Americans to respond before it is too late. What could possibly be so important to warrant such a barrage of warnings from the federal government? People who have not yet made the transition to digital TV face a Friday deadline to upgrade – or be faced with the terrifying prospect of blank TV screens.
Night and day for eighteen months, the words have slowly scrolled across our screens. When broadcast television converts to digital, analog receivers will no longer be able to pick up a signal. It appears the government is concerned about the uproar that might occur when people suddenly realize they cannot watch tonight’s episode of CSI or “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Can you imagine the chaos that would follow the complete and instantaneous removal of our television signal? What if it included satellites, cable and broadcast TV? What would America do? Sure, television is a tool that can connect us to noteworthy events in the world around us. However, more often than not, it is simply the vehicle that brings various forms of entertainment into our homes. Sometimes harmless, usually mindless, and often downright offensive.
When I read the latest warnings, I began to wonder. What if believers treated the reality of the Lord’s return with the same urgency that the federal government treated this event? The Lord Himself reminds us that “as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:37). He describes people who were eating, drinking, and celebrating as if they had no concerns at all – until Noah entered the ark. Those same people who ignored the warning were swept away in the great global flood. He then offers the sobering reminder that “so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:39).
We have a clear message: Jesus is coming again! We have an urgent message: His coming is imminent! We have an alarming message: He will come without further notice! We have a sobering message: We must be prepared now to meet Him! Perhaps we should put out an urgent bulletin to the people that surround us each day. God has promised the return of His Son. Today is the day to prepare.