Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Matt. 24:44.

This insight into the times has always been a matter of urgency with God. There were multitudes of people in Noah's day, in Abraham's day, and throughout the times of Israel who did not or would not see the approaching day of God's visitation.

It is a poor sort of mountain guide who cannot tell whether there is danger of an avalanche, or if the ice over a crevasse is about to give way. It is it poor sort of ship pilot who fails to know the cut of the channels and the run of the currents. It is a poor sort of lifeguard who sees a swimmer being carried away in the grip of a current and does not try to save him from being swept out to sea. It is a poor sort of Christian who does not react aright and with insight as to the world and future conditions in such a time its this.

It is nighttime for the world. This is the darkest of all the dark ages. We are to be a light to the world. It is unpardonable to lack insight as to the drift of millions who are going down into perdition. Someone suggested that the seven deadly sins of modern life are politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, industry without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.

"Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). Unbelief is a way of life where we seek to achieve our personal fulfillment through some motivating interest other than trust in God and in the blessed hope of His soon return. One of the more difficult problems for us all—and often the most unwelcome—is the development of the mind of Christ in us, because we find life according to the world more interesting.

Our future is with Christ in the new earth. Some hope that Christ's coming can be delayed for a while at least. Life here has so much to offer. That is the surest recipe for losing everything. All man's blueprints for a better world have been torn to shreds. As stewards of the gospel of the grace of God, we must take its many people with us as we can when Christ returns.