When the bridegroom comes: Are you ready?
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” – Matt 25:13, Amos 5:24
Learning never ends. As we ask today’s question – ‘Are you ready?’ – we continue to reflect on the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ; but there are many illustrations around us that make the point clearly to anyone who has ears to hear and eyes to see. Climate change offer one illustration – that dinosaurs failed to adapt to a fundamentally new climate, and they became extinct; and technological trends affecting business offer us another such an illustration. Kodak will suffice to illustrate the effects of these technological disruptions:
When Steven Sasson at Kodak introduced the very first digital camera in 1975 with 0.01 megapixels, everyone laughed at him. Kodak had all the patents for the digital camera, yet they went out of business because of it. How could this happen? Simple, short term thinking instead of long term planning. It would have taken long term vision on behalf of the executives at Kodak, to beat the future and be a top player in the digital world. Their only focus during this time was selling more chemicals and paper to fulfil the current film demand at the time. The short term thinking strategy failed them. The digital age overtook them and left them behind, lonely, broke and bankrupt!
The customer of tomorrow is being raised today; this is a new type of customer that will not settle for a photo image but wants a quick downloadable image to share in a millisecond with over 10 thousand social media fans. ‘Welcome to the New Kodak Moment- the moment when an exponential force puts a linear company out of business.’ – says Peter Diamandis. The big question is, ARE YOUR READY? Is your company ready?
The business lessons about are greatly applicable to even longer term planning – into eternity; indeed it only serves as an illustration. The warnings Kodak received and ignored are similar to what God’s prophets have spoken again and again to God’s people. Jesus himself called on us to wait for the Kingdom of God as wise virgins waiting to receive a bridegroom. In John’s Revelation, Christ is described as a Bridegroom that is coming for a Bride (the Church) without spot or wrinkle.
When the bridegroom comes:
Will your lamps be burning bright, will your robes be shining white?
Will the sorrows of the past all be changed to joy at last?
Will you join the ransomed host or be found among the lost?
When the Lord shall call his own, can you stand before the throne?
Will your wearied heart rejoice at the sound of Jesus voice?
Oh be ready for that day, with your sins all washed away.
God bless you.