College roommates. Those two words conjure up some interesting memories, don't they?

I once had a roommate who hated waking up in the morning. And more than anything, he hated the alarm. He had an alarm clock beside his bed, and when it sounded, he turned it off, rolled over, and fell back asleep. He had another alarm clock on his dresser. When it sounded, he got up, turned it off, got back in bed, and fell back asleep. 

He had another alarm clock on the sink in the bathroom. You can guess what he did went it went off. Each alarm was set in 10-minute increments. If that wasn’t enough, he had another one in the shower. When that sounded, he got up, and since he was already in the shower, he figured he might as well get up!

How do you feel about alarms? Most of us don't like any kind of alarm, do we?

At sundown today, a very important time in the Jewish tradition begins. It’s Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. The biblical holiday is the Feast of Trumpets or Shofars.

You may have seen a shofar. It’s the horn of a ram that sounds the alarm that the new year has begun. Rabbis teach that Satan hates this sound because, at the sound of the shofar, the Messiah will come. 

Matthew 24:30 says, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” Well, you can certainly see why Satan hates the shofar.

Jesus teaches that we are approaching the final hour. Rabbis teach that on Rosh Hashanah, the Book of Life is opened for ten days, called the Days of Awe, (Yamim Noraim) or the Days of Repentance. God closes the Book ten days later on Yom Kippur. Historically, this is a time for serious introspection, a time to consider the sins of the previous year and repent before Yom Kippur.

Today, let's reflect on the truth that the world is not our home. One way or another we will all hear the shofar. Our days are numbered. And on the final judgement day, we want Him to find us having lived generous lives. We want him to find us loving Him with all our hearts, souls, and minds and loving our neighbors as ourselves. 

Are you ready for the moment when the final alarm sounds?

David Wills is President of National Christian Foundation in our Atlanta office. His passions are centered on generosity and eternity, and he therefore invests his time helping others "lay up treasure in heaven" (Matt. 6:20).

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