The Expiration Date

How does it make you feel when you get up in the morning to have a bowl of cereal, and pull out the jug of milk only to find the expiration date is today? What do you do in that situation? Pour it out immediately? Give it a sniff perhaps? It is interesting how seriously most people take the expiration date on a milk carton.

What if there was no expiration date on the carton? What would you do? Personally, I would very carefully test the milk each day before I had a glass or poured any on my cereal. I'd first give it the smell test and then a brief taste test before deciding what to do.

Now, how can so many of us be concerned with the expiration of our milk more so than the expiration of this world? Jesus said of His second coming, "But of that day and hour nobody knows..." (Mk. 13:32-37). While it is certain to occur, God hasn't given us a specific date stamped in our Bibles to let us know when to expect His coming. He isn't going to notify the local newspaper to warn everyone. He isn't going to post it on the Internet. He isn't going to show any signs or give any indication that the time is near.

So what do we do? "Be on the alert" (Mk. 13:32, 37). Do just what you would do if you didn't have an expiration date on your milk. Examine your life, make sure you're serving God to the best of your ability and doing what is right in His sight (2 Cor. 13:5; "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!..."). Paul writes in 1 Cor. 15:24 that at His coming Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, the kingdom being the church, those who are in the faith. Those who are not in His kingdom will be lost. Are you in or out?