SOBER UP

When we hear the words, “sober up” most of us think of someone who is drunk from alcohol that needs to get out of their drunken stupor and regain their proper senses. We’ve all seen folks who are drunk and do stupid things.

As I think of that and reflect upon the stupid and senseless things that go on in America today, our nation seems to have become like a drunken man who is staggering down a dark and dirty alley trying to find his way home.

We are a nation with more than our share of folks drunk from the confusion and deception of these days.

Personally, I know how each and every day I have to fight my own battle not to be consumed by the things that others convince me are important for life.

Those “things” that most of us cling to, or think that we cannot live without, in reality, only make us drunk with the stuff of this world.

Therein lies my problem, and a challenge for many, and that is: to put aside the cravings of this momentary life and open our eyes once again to the true importance of that which is eternal.

The lines below have helped me through the years. They are a simple poem, packed full of truth, that has shaken me sober time and again. If you need it, it might help you too!

WHAT THEN?

When the great busy plants of our cities
Shall have turned out their last finished work;

When the merchants have sold their last order,
And dismissed their last weary clerk;

When the banks have all counted their monies
And paid out their last dividend:

And the Judge of the earth wants a hearing
And asks for a balance – what then?

When the choir has sung its last anthem,
And the preacher has prayed his last prayer;

When the people have heard their last sermon,
And the sound has died out in the air;

When the Bible lies closed in the pulpit
And the pews are all empty of men;

And each stands to uncover his record –
And the Great Book is opened – what then?

When the players have played the last inning
And the runner has made his last run;

When the movie has shown its last picture,
And the bartender’s job is now done;

When the pleasures of sin have all vanished,
And gone into darkness again –

And the trumpet of ages has sounded –
And we stand there before Him – what then?

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  2 Corinthians 5:10