WHEN IT’S TOO LATE  
By Mark Grant

A young insurance agent had tried repeatedly to convince an elderly man to buy fire coverage for his home. “No” the homeowner kept saying. “It is well built, and I maintain it properly.” “My house will never catch fire.” But one day it did! The elderly man drove franticly into the parking lot of the insurance agents office and started asking to buy an insurance policy for his home. It was then that the young man began to see the thick black smoke swell up into the sky in the direction that the elderly man lived. So he reluctantly turned and looked into the worried face of the older man and said, “there is nothing that I can do for you.” “It’s too late.” Although this story may seem too silly to be true, it does teach the folly of presumption, and of putting off until tomorrow a decision that needs to be made today.

Jesus taught a similar story of a rich man when He said, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' “So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” “But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21). Someone once defined a fool as one whose plans end at the grave. What did the rich fool have for the next life? The person who trusts in wealth makes a foolish investment for in a single day, the rich man became poor. This man made three mistakes. He assumed that (1) wealth is for hoarding (v. 18). (2) wealth is just for self with no thought of others’ needs (v. 19). (3) wealth can satisfy the deeper needs of human life (vv. 20-21). Planning for retirement or making preparations before death is wise, but neglecting life after death is far more disastrous. Jesus is challenging us to think beyond earthbound goals and to use what we have been given for God’s Kingdom. Faith, obedience and servanthood are the way to become rich toward God. True security lies in always doing God’s will, not in amassing possessions.

It was Jesus who taught, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6: 19-21) Jesus tells us that the only true treasures worth living for are heavenly ones, for the richest people on earth are those who invest their lives in Heaven (Prov. 13:7). Let us therefore strive to be rich in good works toward God, storing up for ourselves a good foundation for the future, that we may lay hold on eternal life (1 Tim. 6:17-19). We cannot repent too soon, for none of us know how soon it may be too late!