Life, as we have known it over the past few decades, is soon coming to an end. The first couple of decades of this century has been pretty hectic and enjoyable to a certain extent. Yes, there have been some terrorist bombings and quite a number of shootings but for most of America, this century has been pretty good. We never did win the war on terror but that is because there are no winners in a war that has religion as its driving force. The main point that I am getting to about the “count down” is that everything is going according to God’s plan.
If you have read Matthew 24 or the book of Daniel and some of the first few chapters in Revelation, you can see most of the prophecies coming true to some extent every day in the news. Why do I point this out? Because there are few people in our nation who are paying attention to the comparison between the news and those books of prophecy that I mentioned. We truly are counting down toward an ending that I believe will arrive much sooner than we are ready for.
Are you ready for that day? When the dead in Christ will rise to meet the Lord in the air and those who belong to Him and are still alive will join them. When that happens, the economies of the world will crash. There will be many who will wonder what happened and there will be a few who will still be here that will know exactly what happened. If you believe that we are in a recession now, just wait until many millions disappear without a trace.
Can you be ready for this when it comes? If you give your life to Jesus and follow Him today and for the rest of your life then you will be ready for that day when it arrives. Is there any other way to get ready for the taking away of the church? NO! Belief in Jesus and following Him as your Savior is the only way. Nothing that you try to add to it will make any difference. God has made this easy but so many want to “help” Him with their salvation. There is nothing that we can add to His work that He completed on the cross and in rising from the tomb.
Our efforts are only useful when we have given our hearts to Him and the service that we do after that only adds to our rewards in heaven. We can’t help God save us or to consecrate our lives more by accepting Jesus as our Savior. Reading the Bible, studying it daily so we will know His voice, and washing our minds with the pure water of the Word every day are the ways that we can become mature in our faith and become more like Jesus.
Seek Him in everything that you do. Look for ways to let others know that God loves them and then show it by your actions as well. Be His disciple daily so people will see Him by your words and your actions so they might want the relationship you have with Him.
The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, But the desire of the diligent shall be fully satisfied. (Proverbs 13:4)
As I adjusted to the general education system in 6th grade, my mother taught me the principle of working hard. This is something that still resonates with me today, especially with senior year right around the corner.
Now that I am a senior getting ready to graduate high school, there comes the temptation to slack off and blow everything off to the last minute. This temptation is especially going to come with a 3-10 page research paper that all seniors must complete prior to graduating. However, every grade in the gradebook counts, because now you are looking for colleges and universities that demand such high academic standards. For many, Zoom and remote learning has created the perfect opportunity for us to be lazy and shoot for mediocrity.
However, it is the diligent, hard-working person who reaps profitable results. This attitude of diligence is what landed me on the honor roll for five consecutive school years, and what allowed me to earn the Principal’s Award for Mathematics this past school year.
When God sees our work ethic (whether in our academics, our personal responsibilies, our career, or even the way we worship and serve God), we will inevitaly reap good fruit. To be clear: You sow the seed of diligence, while God Himself produces the results.
Today, let us all use today as a day of productivity, not being idle or lax in what we done, but pour out our hearts and souls into each and every task or assignment God gives us. Let us allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and give us the wisdom and motivation to work for the kingdom of God, and for those around us. Amen!
The Truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ and His atonement for our sins. Repentance from those sins and an adjusted attitude of becoming more like Jesus Christ! However you spell it or in which direction you read it, our society needs to get back to the truth of God’s Word, the Bible! For more than fifty years our young people in schools and colleges have been without the guiding light of God’s Word in their education. They may get a sermon on the weekends if they attend church, but today it seems that more of that age bracket don’t want to identify with any religion no matter what it teaches.
So…what can we do as a culture or a nation to bring people back to the place where they can get to know their Savior? Pray for a revival among those absent from worship services for the first and foremost action that we can take. The next best action would be for the church to be the church that Jesus intended for us to be, regardless of denomination. What does that mean exactly? Go into your community and find people in need of God’s provisions such as clothing, food, or help with chores around the house. Our society has become so insulated in the past couple of decades until we have forgotten what it means to be Christians and neighbors too.
Life is or should be more than working and coming home to hide until you have to go to work again. When Jesus told the Pharisees about the good Samaritan, He was telling them to go and do likewise. Why can’t we do that? Many of the letters that Paul wrote and those that the apostles wrote also had verbiage to go and take care of those who needed to be taken care of. Jesus said the same thing: “When I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me a drink, when I was in jail, you visited me.”
If you have been His hands and feet in this life to those in need, regardless of that need, then you are truly being the Church…the Bride of Christ. As Jesus answered the Pharisees when they asked what they should do after finding out who their neighbor truly is, He said “Go and do likewise“.
The Living Message of Christ 