Here’s an easy pop quiz. When does most studying for a test take place? When are most school projects completed? When are you most likely to give your home a good cleaning? When do you do your best work?
Would it be fair to say that the correct answer to all these questions is “just before”? Don’t students tend to study most the night just before the test? Isn’t that when most projects are completed? Aren’t you more likely to clean thoroughly just before you expect company? And, don’t we do our best work just before an evaluation or review?
Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar contends that we do our best work the day just before vacation. With only one day to get work done before leaving for a week, we get motivated to complete our tasks. No loitering at the water cooler nor time for chitchat with coworkers, we must finish by quitting time so we can take off without a care.
Ziglar suggests that we should work every day as if it were the day just before vacation. That comes close to an important Biblical approach to life – that we live every day as if it were the day just before we meet God.
We know that “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). So, it’s smart to live each day as if it were “just before.” In fact, that’s what Jesus advised: “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44). Be ready every day in case it’s the day just before.
What would you do differently if you knew that today is the day just before you meet your heavenly father? Ponder that for just a moment.
Would you speak more kindly to others? Would you work harder or with more integrity? Would it change your priorities? Would you slow down a bit, relax more, and take more time to really talk and listen to the people who matter to you? Surely, you would insure that your relationship with the Lord is what it should be.
Few of us will ever know when our life will end. But all of us can try to live each day as if it’s “just before.”