Will You Meet Your Deadline?

Good News – February 2011 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Will You Meet Your DEADLINE?

Have you ever stopped to think how we got the word “deadline”? According to historians, during the Civil War it was the custom of soldiers who guarded prisoners of war to draw a line on the ground to indicate the area in which the prisoners could freely move. If anyone dared to step over the line, he was killed on the spot. The line quickly earned the appropriate name – the deadline.

Deadlines Today
That’s not such a far cry from its use today. In business, the term means getting something done within the prescribed time. If one fails to do so and goes over the deadline the matter concerned becomes a dead issue.

Because news only remains “news” for a very short period of time, newspaper reporters are required to meet or beat their writing deadline with every news article for every issue of the paper.

Where safety is concerned, the parallel is too close for comfort. Step over the safety deadline and you could be in just as much trouble as the prisoners of war once were. Accidents on the streets, in shops or in homes are often just as deadly as being shot at by soldiers.

Your Deadline
However, there is one big difference between the original deadline in prison camps and your own safety deadline. The first was an actual line drawn in the dirt. You could see it, and you knew just how far you could go. A safety deadline is invisible and uncertain. Maybe you can get away with an unsafe practice for a while, but the deadline is there, just as real and just as deadly.

But an even more important deadline which we all must meet is death. Any preparation for eternity must be made before death overtakes us. Cemeteries are filled with all sizes of graves showing that age has no bearing on when this deadline will have to be met. It causes one to wonder how many of those who crossed the deadline unexpectedly through accidents, or not so suddenly through illness, were “ready to die.” Are you ready to meet your deadline?

How To Meet It
Unlike the original prisoner-ofwar deadline, you have been given a way to cross this most important deadline safely, and that is by trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation. The Bible says this: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NIV). And Jesus Himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me” (Jn. 14:6).

Because man is sinful, he can’t help himself, and “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But God has provided His only begotten Son, who died on the cross of Calvary to bear the punishment for our sins. The Bible tells us this: “God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).

When To Meet It
Since you may be called upon to meet your deadline when you least expect it – this month, this week, tomorrow or maybe even tonight – it is very important that you immediately turn to the only one who can stand between you and the wrath of a righteous God – Jesus Christ. God’s Word says, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (Jn. 3:3). We urge you to “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near” (Isa. 55:6). We can tell you more.

By Bill Weir