The sit-down diner, Denny’s, is known for being open 24/7. But a long time ago they decided to give all their employees Christmas day off. In December of 1988, the restaurant chain decided to close all of its 1,221 stores for the Christmas holiday. This was not an easy decision for the company to make. Denney’s was well-known for being open 24-hours-a-day, 365-days a year, so closing on Christmas day was predicted to cost the chain $5 million in sales. They were faced with an even bigger problem: Since the chain never shut its doors, many of their restaurants were either built without locks on the doors or no one could find the keys to the locks that did exist! The company had to install door locks in more than 700 of its restaurants just so that they close for that one day. They had been in business with over 700 restaurants not having the ability to lock up. They had been open for years and had never thought that not having locks on the doors just might be a problem someday. They got totally caught off guard! That’s the way we folks here on earth operate a lot of the time. We just think that we have it all under control and then the normal goes away we find out that we weren’t prepared. Jesus talked about that in what we call “The Sermon on the Mount”. He told a group of people that you may be calling me Lord, Lord here on earth, but when your life winds up here on earth…you may not enter the Kingdom of Heaven! He said that only those who do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. We can do a lot of things and say a lot of the right things. But what the Jesus of the Bible wants is for you and me to follow him. Otherwise you can end up like those stores who realized that they weren’t prepared to close even for one day because they never planned for it. They neglected one simple, ordinary thing…door locks. We might see ourselves as pretty good and even holy. But we just need to remember that no one is holy. We are all sinners and everyone needs a savior. Do the simple thing that God has called you and me and everyone else to do…just love this Jesus, follow him and love the people around us. You do that and when it becomes closing time on
this earth for you, you will be prepared to leave and won’t be taken by surprise or find out that you neglected the simplest thing you could have done. And that was making sure that this Jesus was locked into your heart. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Matthew 7:21-23 NLT “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (22) On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ (23) But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ
this earth for you, you will be prepared to leave and won’t be taken by surprise or find out that you neglected the simplest thing you could have done. And that was making sure that this Jesus was locked into your heart. Here’s our Bible verse for today…
Matthew 7:21-23 NLT “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. (22) On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ (23) But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Remember I’m praying for you…
PJ