[189 words]
Shortly after he opened his first plant, Thomas Edison noticed that his employees had gotten into the bad habit of watching the factory clock, which was the only clock in the plant. To the indefatigable inventor who never thought about the time a task took, this was incomprehensible. He did not express his disapproval verbally. Instead he had dozens of clocks installed all around the plant. His goal was not to make it easier for his workers to see a clock. He made sure that no two clocks had the same time. Soon clock watching led to so much confusion that nobody cared what time it was.
I have a suspicion that one reason that God does not tell us when the second coming will be is that He knows we are clock-watchers. Just as people were busy thinking about how much time they had left at work until lunch break, so we might be tempted to focus only on getting ready when the time was near. Instead we are called to be the people of God every minute of every day–not to get ready, but to be ready.
Michael Moss
via Broad Street church of Christ
Scottsboro, AL