Eighteen-year-old King Jehoiachin only reigned three months as king of Judah. He didn't use those three months to prepare for an upcoming Babylonian invasion. However, he did have time in those three months to marry at least twice (2 Kgs 24:15) and to do other evil works (2 Kgs 24:9). In those days, kings often married multiple foreign wives to build alliances with neighboring nations, but if that was the case, those marriages did nothing to solidify Jehoiachin's kingdom. After three months, Babylon attacked Jerusalem, conquered it, and exiled the young king to Babylon (2 Kgs 24:15). The storm came, his kingdom collapsed, and both he and his kingdom were "completely ruined" (Mt 7:27).
On the day of the Lord, people will get married and eat and drink with no concern for the future, but the day of the Lord will suddenly come and bring their plans to ruin (see Mt 24:38ff). How tragic that King Jehoiachin didn't spend those three months preparing for the storms by building his kingdom on godly principles (see Lk 6:47-48).
This sad story is meant to serve as a warning to each of us. What if your day of reckoning was to come three months from today? If you knew you had three months to live, how would you change your life today? Spend the next three months repenting deeply. Ask the Lord what He would have you change so that your life can be built on rock rather than sand (Mt 7:24-27). "Reform your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Mt 4:17).
| PRAYER: | Father, I have spent enough of my life on my own pleasures. Give me the grace to spend the rest of my life on what matters to You (1 Pt 4:2-3; Lk 12:21). |
| PROMISE: | "Anyone who hears My words and puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on rock." –Mt 7:24 |
| PRAISE: | St. Cyril, a Doctor of the Church, lived during a period of Church history when several heresies were popular. His writings brought clarity to the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College