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Matt Johnston and his partner, John Douglas Rainey, are former thieves who have turned their lives around. Matt became a school teacher and John became a private eye—that is, at least, before The Discovery Channel gave them their own home improvement show. I have to give credit to the network—while heaping yet another contribution on the pile of home improvement shows already out there, they’ve introduced a new and fascinating approach to that particular category of programming. Matt and John have been put back out on the street, stalking New England neighborhoods looking for houses that would be easy targets for invasion and plunder. When they find one, Matt, serving as host, approaches the homeowners and proposes that they allow Mr. Rainey to ransack their homes, rifle through their belongings, and drive off with their most valuable material possessions—usually in the homeowners’ own cars—while they watch it all happen on surveillance cameras. Why would anyone agree to this? Here’s the hook—once the two reformed thieves have shown the victims how vulnerable the homeowners were, they use that knowledge to set them straight in their habits and upgrade their homes with a full security renovation. Locks, alarms, motion sensors—literally all the bells and whistles. The appeal of the show is the dramatic unveiling of what the vulnerability means to the families. I’ve seen enough episodes now to notice a recurring trend: most people are fully aware that their security is lax, that they would be totally unprepared were they to be the target of a real break-in. They know that, and admit it with smiling faces, but the seriousness of what that means doesn’t sink in to them until they are watching on a monitor as a total stranger coldly and carelessly rips through their most intimate surroundings. It never fails to shock and horrify them. And who isn’t surprised to find themselves robbed? No one. That is the program’s message. Though we can’t predict when a thief might break in, we can anticipate the general threat, fortify our vulnerabilities, and remain in a constant state of readiness—not paranoia, just reasonable caution and awareness. This, I think, is exactly the kind of thing Jesus uses to teach us about the end of the world and Final Judgment. Death and a final reckoning are on the horizon of all our thoughts, but are daily given never more than a passive awareness. But it is a matter of common observation that death may come to any of us at any hour of any day. Just within the past few weeks I have been able to witness the experience of an old brother in Christ who was suddenly and unexpectedly bereaved, as well as the testimony of a young Christian whose training for police work calls him to the scene of fatal car accidents on an almost daily basis. Who isn’t troubled at having to face death? No one. The Savior’s advice is that we approach the unknown day of death and judgment with vigilance—not paranoia, just reasonable caution and awareness. “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight. And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves” (Luke 12:35-38). We should invest our daily activities with godly virtues: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Our eternal fate should be a constant priority. As sure as we neglect a greater prize for passing trifles, our plans will be spoiled by the intrusion of mortality, and we die a fool’s death (Luke 12:16-20). Just as unexpected will be the end of all things, the Day of Judgment (2 Peter 3:10). “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:42-44). The Lord is all too aware of our tendencies, and He has chosen a very effective way to communicate urgency to us. Since my wife and I first started watching Discovery’s home invasion / improvement show, we’ve actually started using our personal safe and the locks on our security doors. We’ve re-keyed the locks, dead-bolted one exterior door, and put in an order to have another one replaced entirely (a burglar could crawl right through the doggy door on the current one). I have a heightened sense of the threat of burglary, and a better understanding of Christ’s fitting comparison. A thief breaking in is a concept we can immediately grasp—“Oh, this isn’t a game at all. A thief could strike anybody. I’d better get serious about this.” I understand that. Now, how do I get my mind around something as big and unknown as death and the end of the world? It will come “like a thief.” Got it. Many people have only a vague concept of life beyond the grave. Many, many more—like those who Matt & John make it their mission to disillusion—rest in a false sense of security. “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-6). “Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you” (Revelation 3:3). To
remind me to maintain a realistic grasp on eternity and mortality, sometimes
it takes a thief.
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DIRECT BIBLE QUESTIONS TO: Mitchell Stevens, acts2216@midsouth.rr.com