"What kind of bike do you have?" asked a man in the office where I worked.
"It's a 5-speed," I told him. "That's no good at all," he said. "Throw it in the garbage."
I was not surprised at his reply because it was well known in our office how much this man liked bicycles. He had a bike worth over 500 dollars and kept it in perfect condition. "I have two chains," he told me. "I leave one in oil while I use the other one. that way the next chain is already oiled when I need it.
This man rode his bicycle to work every day and had a special jacket with warm cloth on the front and a light mesh on the back. This kept him warm when he was going down a hill and the light mesh on the back made sure that he didn't get too hot going up a hill. He had a catalog of bike parts which he often looked at and always ordered the most expensive parts.
One day I went by his desk and saw that he wasn't looking at his catalog but at a Bible calendar. "Those verses on the calendar are from the Bible," I told him.
"It doesn't make any difference to me where it comes from," he said. "It doesn't interest me at all."
Sadly, he would not let me say any more to him about the Bible. Not long after this he went on a holiday in Europe. He had told me how much nicer it was to bike than to go by car or train because he got to really see the countryside. I am sorry to tell you that I never saw that man again. While he was biking through Europe, he died of a heart attack and never finished his holiday.
He had prepared his bicycle with great care for his holiday, but as far as I know, he had made no preparations to meet God.
Are you like this man? Perhaps it is not bikes that interest you, but are you spending all your time thinking about and planning for the things in this world that you enjoy? Have you considered that you also must some day leave it all behind and go to meet God? The Bible says, "Prepare to meet thy God." Amos 4:12. The only way to be ready to meet God is to have your sins washed away in the blood of the Lord Jesus. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7.
God's Word tells us that one man said, "I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." God said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Luke 12:19,20.
"Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man [the Lord Jesus] cometh at an hour when ye think not." Luke 12:40.