In church last Sabbath I was talking to a brother about what we are supposed to do to prepare ourselves and others for the great Day. It is often hard to see how our actions impact on the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet they do, because the Bible says so.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a coral reef, great and mighty. The reef spans a continent and divides an ocean. But it is built up of tiny coral polyps, smaller than your small fingernail. The corals do not purposely build the reef. They just live their lives. They eat what floats by. The natural functioning of their bodies excretes the concrete that becomes the reef. So it is with man. The natural functioning of our bodies, the natural course of our lives, builds up the Kingdom of God, if we live our lives in accord with God. If the coral polyps tried to act like fish, or birds, they would never build reefs. God made corals for a purpose, and so with man. As we are above the corals, God is above us, seeing the big picture that we cannot. The corals do not know they are building a reef; they just do it. Likewise we must do our part for the Kingdom to appear. It is built up gradually, not instantly. It is real. The Kingdom of Heaven is right here on earth. It exists right now. Do you want to see it? To be in it?
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a garden, filled with men as a garden is filled with roses. The rose does not worry about what it can do to make the garden beautiful. Rather, the rose takes in the air, food, water, and sunshine it finds around it, leaving the rest to the gardener. And so it grows up and produces a beautiful flower. And the many flowers form a beautiful garden, without any planning on the flowers part. But if the rose said one day "I don't need water" or "I don't need air", it would stop growing. It would soon shrivel and die. This is what happens to man when he neglects to obey the commands of God. For, he who will do them, will live in them. Like the thirsty rose, the sinful man will not bless anyone with fragrant beauty, but will be plucked up out of the garden and tossed into the compost heap.
Do not worry for tomorrow; if you do the things God commands, then you can trust the He will make everything come out for the good, even if bad things happen for a while. Death is not the end; it too will pass one day. But the sinners will also pass; only those who show God they are willing to do whatever he says, no matter how silly or unpopular, will keep standing in the latter day.