The author of this article describes how he was suddenly forced to flee a hotel room in the Middle East with only minutes to prepare. He decided to grab his passport and airline tickets. But the question of what we would take if we had to flee our home at a moment’s notice is something to consider at a deeper level and more than just physical preparations need to be considered.

While the physical items you pick up says something about what you value, the one item all of us take with us as we flee in a time of emergency are the values we live by. Character—righteous or otherwise—is what we have with us when we deal with a trial or an emergency.

Biblical warnings about a coming time of distress, often referred to as the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, provide instructions about preparing for these events. In I Thessalonians 5:1-10 the Apostle Paul describes it as happening suddenly and unexpectedly like “a thief in the night.”

A number of years ago a fictional work was published entitled ‘One Second After’. It told the hypothetical story of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon detonated over the United States which knocked out all electricity. The book’s scenario focused on what happened to life in a small town after the event when the fabric of society began to unravel. Within 30 days more than half the town’s inhabitants were dead as food and vital medications ran out and unruly gangs began to roam pillaging for food and in extreme cases killing to survive.

Prophetic biblical passages indicate that when the life we now know collapses survivors will be required to rely on their character and react in ways demonstrating spiritual courage and resourcefulness. Survival will require a spiritual capacity that has been developed in advance through conscious decisions to act and live in a godly manner based on the holy teachings of our Creator.

The Apostle Peter tells those living in the prophetic end times to become people of holy conduct and godly character. “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:11-13).

Peter had already debunked the scoffers who say such things will never happen. He referred to the time of Noah and the Flood that came as God’s judgment on a wicked world refusing to accept the holy knowledge of God. And a similar willful neglect of God is also at the heart of the events to come (2 Peter 3:3-7).

We are told there is a new world coming where only righteousness dwells. The bridge to that world, during the calamitous times ahead, will be walked by those who have put on faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (2 Peter 1:5-7).

Now is the time to study your Bible to find the way God wants you to live. The character and values we already have when the time of trouble begins is the only thing of value we can take with us at a moment’s notice.