Articles
Evacuation Order
Do you ever wonder about the people who won’t evacuate? A natural disaster is occurring and
mandatory evacuations are sent out, but some people just won’t leave. They cling to their
homes, hope for the best, and stay. Lives are lost as a result, not to mention rescuers often have
to risk their own lives to save those stubborn people.
Why wouldn’t they just leave and be safe? I suppose they don’t believe the warnings. I suppose
they are attached to their stuff and unwilling to risk losing it (not that they can really protect their
homes and stuff in a large natural disaster). Whatever their thinking, they are often proven
wrong and after the disaster is over, once they are rescued, they shake their heads and say, “I
should not have stayed.”
I don’t know about you, but I always find myself watching them being interviewed and nodding
along with them. “Yep. You should have left.” And I confess to thinking the people a bit
foolish. They were warned. They should have known better.
Do you agree?
Consider the warning that John gives us about this world. “The world is passing away” (I John
2:17). This world is doomed. We’ve been warned by the foremost expert: God. He isn’t
guessing.
The world is doomed. All of the material things of this world will be destroyed. But not just
that. John adds, “And also its lusts” (I John 2:17). All of the worldly desires are doomed too.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar
and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned
up” (II Pet. 3:10).
This world is facing a disaster unlike anything it has ever seen before. It will truly be the end. It
could happen at any moment. And God has—in a way—sent out an evacuation order. Flee from
the lusts of the world (I Pet. 2:11). Dedicate yourself to spiritual holy conduct which will last
rather than focusing on worldly things that won’t (II Pet. 3:11-13).
Have you obeyed the order? Or do you find yourself making the same mistakes as those people
we spoke about earlier? Do you act like the end isn’t coming? Do you cling to a life focused on
physical things and worldly lusts?
It is easy to sit in judgment of those on television who’ve had to be rescued because of their
stubborn foolishness. But maybe they are just a reflection of ourselves. In their case, at least
some of them survived. Those who don’t heed God’s warning won’t be so fortunate.
Be sure to evacuate before it is too late.
