The Repo Man Cometh!

Out in a parking lot, just after he parked his tow truck, I was asked an interesting question by Chris, who works as a “repo man”. These are the guys who take possession of vehicles after their owners have failed to keep up payments. Their owners are given a limited time in which to make payments and then, that’s it! Times up! Party's over!

It could happen at any time. A delinquent borrower might have a full cart of groceries only to find that their car was suddenly towed away while they were shopping. Or the vehicle might mysteriously disappear from the parking lot while they were working. And this happens more often than you might realize. Did you know over 2 million vehicles are repossessed by lenders every year? That’s over 5000 vehicles a day!

So the interesting question Chris asked me, in response to my question about God and eternity, was this – “Why do we only have a certain amount of time? That’s one of the biggest questions I have, why do we have an expiration date?”

I thought that was interesting coming from a guy whose job is to be sort of a “grim reaper” with people’s vehicles. Surely he has thought through what would happen if there was no possibility of repossession – if people were just allowed to default on their loans indefinitely. With no deadlines looming, don’t we all have a basic tendency toward procrastination?

So is it fair to try to make a comparison between the limited time we have in making car payments, and the limited time we have to walk this earth and breathe the air? Probably not. But I’m thinking that maybe there is a connection if we realize that there are certain tasks that, like the deadline to make a car payment, we are given a limited time to complete. Maybe God knows our sinful nature and that we also have a tendency toward procrastination when it comes to the tasks He has given us to complete during our stay here.

So what are these tasks? It has to be somewhat different for every person since, after all, we are all given very different “expiration dates”. Psalm 139:16 tells us “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God ordains long lives for some, short lives for others, and our date with eternity often arrives unexpectedly.

But there may be one common purpose God has for us all. He wants all people to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4) In 2 Peter 3:9 we read that "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

This passage refers to God’s delaying of the “last days” in order that more people might come to faith and repentance. The “promise” referred to is repeated in the very next verse – that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief.” But I believe it also refers to our own personal final days. We may not know when the “thief” will come, but today we can have peace with God through a faith relationship with Jesus.

We all have a date with destiny, and none of us are guaranteed a warning before the “repo man” comes!