The infamous 'Doomsday Clock' has just been set to five minutes till midnight - symbolizing the nearness of the predicted destruction of humanity. It is based on world situations, events, climate, disasters, threats and hopeful outlook - or lack of it.
The first Doomsday Clock was set in 1947 when nuclear weapons became a big concern for the world. It was set at seven minutes till midnight at that time. With the weakening relationship between the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union, it was moved up to three minutes before midnight in 1949. When the first hydrogen bomb was successfully tested in 1953, the clock ticked to two minutes to midnight.
Most of us going to elementary school in the early 60's remember the drills and parades from our desks to the designated fallout shelter within the school building. We remember those black-and-yellow triangle signs indicating potential disaster right around the corner.
When the Cold War ended in the early 90's, the clock was set at a safer 17 minutes to midnight. But with the new terrorist and nuclear threats, breakdowns in international peace talks and unrest worldwide, it's been moved closer to doomsday.
It seems right, then, to focus on the future for a minute. And I don't really mean next Tuesday future. I don't mean 2016 future. I'm talking about the future future - because everything I do now is going to bring either reward or regret at the future future. It really is.
The apostle Paul basically says, 'I'm going to live my relatively short life for one thing. I'm going to spend this relatively short life for the moment I cross the finish line. I'm going to be like a runner running a race, looking to the day I cross the tape and meet God face-to-face - because once I face HIM, I don't get a second shot at this race down here on Earth. This is it. One shot. Just one.'
I'm telling you -- this life is so short. It's a wisp of smoke and it's gone.
People ask me all the time: 'Why do you have to be so intense all the time?'
Because I don't know if this is going to be my last chance to say this stuff or not. And I just want to look you in the figurative eye - because I don't know how all this will end up when it's over - and I don't want you saying to me a million years from now: 'PK, you didn't tell me about this -- you weren't sincere enough about it all' -- so I'll take my time now to be honest with you because this is a perfect time to say it to you.
Every ounce of energy you spend on something other than the investment in the future future is a waste. And I'm praying with great hope that you think through how you're planning to invest your life -- all the things you thought about and worried about and spent time on and went after -- because a whole lot of them aren't going to matter at the end.
Because that time will come long before you and I realize it -- the Doomsday Clock may be a government idea, but it's not all wrong.
So think thru every decision - pray thru every decision - is this going to matter in the end? My time - my passions - my resources - my attention - my energies - my money - my afternoon. I just don't want it to catch you by surprise.
On the other hand, maybe millions of years from now - after you've lived your entire life here on Earth for something other than your own pleasures and we're having lunch together in heaven -- we'll look at each other and say: 'Doomsday, Schmoomsday.' Because we will have told each other the way we lived on Earth was worth it and we didn't live for next Tuesday; we lived for a future future.
And be blessed.
The first Doomsday Clock was set in 1947 when nuclear weapons became a big concern for the world. It was set at seven minutes till midnight at that time. With the weakening relationship between the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union, it was moved up to three minutes before midnight in 1949. When the first hydrogen bomb was successfully tested in 1953, the clock ticked to two minutes to midnight.
Most of us going to elementary school in the early 60's remember the drills and parades from our desks to the designated fallout shelter within the school building. We remember those black-and-yellow triangle signs indicating potential disaster right around the corner.
When the Cold War ended in the early 90's, the clock was set at a safer 17 minutes to midnight. But with the new terrorist and nuclear threats, breakdowns in international peace talks and unrest worldwide, it's been moved closer to doomsday.
It seems right, then, to focus on the future for a minute. And I don't really mean next Tuesday future. I don't mean 2016 future. I'm talking about the future future - because everything I do now is going to bring either reward or regret at the future future. It really is.
The apostle Paul basically says, 'I'm going to live my relatively short life for one thing. I'm going to spend this relatively short life for the moment I cross the finish line. I'm going to be like a runner running a race, looking to the day I cross the tape and meet God face-to-face - because once I face HIM, I don't get a second shot at this race down here on Earth. This is it. One shot. Just one.'
I'm telling you -- this life is so short. It's a wisp of smoke and it's gone.
People ask me all the time: 'Why do you have to be so intense all the time?'
Because I don't know if this is going to be my last chance to say this stuff or not. And I just want to look you in the figurative eye - because I don't know how all this will end up when it's over - and I don't want you saying to me a million years from now: 'PK, you didn't tell me about this -- you weren't sincere enough about it all' -- so I'll take my time now to be honest with you because this is a perfect time to say it to you. Every ounce of energy you spend on something other than the investment in the future future is a waste. And I'm praying with great hope that you think through how you're planning to invest your life -- all the things you thought about and worried about and spent time on and went after -- because a whole lot of them aren't going to matter at the end.
Because that time will come long before you and I realize it -- the Doomsday Clock may be a government idea, but it's not all wrong.
So think thru every decision - pray thru every decision - is this going to matter in the end? My time - my passions - my resources - my attention - my energies - my money - my afternoon. I just don't want it to catch you by surprise.
On the other hand, maybe millions of years from now - after you've lived your entire life here on Earth for something other than your own pleasures and we're having lunch together in heaven -- we'll look at each other and say: 'Doomsday, Schmoomsday.' Because we will have told each other the way we lived on Earth was worth it and we didn't live for next Tuesday; we lived for a future future.
And be blessed.
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