Dear Friends,

‘Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no-one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no-one in the field go back to get his cloak…’ – Matthew 24:17-18

As I began writing this devotional, Martyn and I were about to set off for the UK. Because we were going to be driving and would have 8 different stops over the 16 days we’d be away, I prepared as though for a military operation! My aim was to pack only what we would really need, and every time I added one thing, I tried to remove something else, to maintain a bare but necessary minimum. If we’d been flying I’d have had to be even more stringent. However, the last thing I wanted to do was end up throwing a lot of random stuff in the boot of the car “just in case”. There were also very specific things we needed to make room for, given that we are going to a wedding. We had gifts to take and our wedding clothes too, none of which could be crushed…

Even as I was doing this, I couldn’t help thinking of the passage from Mathew 24 which I quoted above, and which continues in verses 19-22:

‘How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now – and never to be equalled again. If those days had not been cut short no-one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.’

My relatively leisurely preparations seemed like a luxury compared to what Jesus described in these verses. I can only imagine the fearful haste of the Jews fleeing to Masada before the oncoming Roman army, and nearly two thousand years later, those forced from their homes by Nazi soldiers. A few families would have brought their most treasured possessions in suitcases, only to have those same suitcases snatched from them as they disembarked off the trains arriving at the gates of Auschwitz.

Just weeks before we left, some 1,500 Sicilians were given 24 hours or less to grab their precious mementos and leave, before their houses were swallowed up by a vast landslide that was slowly destroying the town of Niscemi. 

Christians in Nigeria have even less time to prepare, as militant islamists of Boko Haram sweep in from the surrounding desert, setting fire to homes and Churches, killing men without mercy and abducting women and girls. But there is one difference, a difference that this latter group cling to, despite the sheer terror that they must feel. They have put their faith in Jesus Christ.

They are experiencing the ultimate “when push comes to shove” and it’s a stark reminder that when we die, we can take nothing with us. Not our money, nor our precious family photos. Nothing but our standing in Christ. If our faith is firmly placed in him who is faithful to the end, then it won’t matter if our bodies are only clothed in rags, or even if we are stripped naked, what awaits us are the wedding garments of the Lamb. These will far surpass the velvet skirt and brand new jacket that I carefully packed for my God-daughter’s wedding. May God grant that we are worthy to wear the robes of Christ’s bride.

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