Saturday, April 23, 2011

Will You Still Be Standing

This is something that we all need to think about.  I think if you have any knowledge of what is happening all around the world, you know that we are in the end time scenario. There is no doubt that Christ’s return is closer now than it has ever been.  I know this is not a popular subject but we all need to prepare ourselves for it.

God wants us to be ready and not slumbering or being lulled into complacency.  Jesus said in Mark 13: 35-37, “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.  If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.  What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” 

When the Lord had these things written, was He trying to scare us?  No, He was trying to prepare us, His children.  I think He was also trying to get the unbelievers attention so that they would repent and turn to Him for Salvation.  I am pretty sure that many people have turned to the Lord after hearing about the end times.

Many Christians are fearful and run away when they hear about the end times, but Christians need have no fear.  It seems like many of us have a divided love, we claim we want to go to Heaven, but do we?  It seems like our devotion and love are divided between Heaven and earth.  The reason I say this, is this.  The Word says, “perfect love cast out all fear.”  

This reminds me of Lot’s wife when they were escaping out of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19: check it out.  They were told not to look back, but she did and she turned into a pillar of salt.  They had come out of a very sinful place, why did she look back?  Did she really want to leave or did she leave because she feared the destruction that was going to take place?  I know that she was turned into a pillar of salt because of her disobedience.  But think of this, did she really want to leave or did Sodom and Gomorrah and the life she knew still have a hold on her?  

And think of the Israelites, they were taken out of Egypt where they were slaves complaining to the Lord about how badly they were being treated in Exodus chapters 13 and 14.  They saw the Red Sea open and they walked through it on dry ground.  God was leading them all the way but it wasn’t long and they started complaining about their food in Exodus 16:1–3.  They grumbled and complained, think about it, did they really want to come out of Egypt or was it just the way they were being treated?  Egypt was another sinful place, did it still have a hold on them?

It seems like when many of us become Christians we are ready to go to Heaven and be with the Lord.  But as the years pass, we get comfortable where we are at.  We seem to forget that we are just passing through this place with a destination of Heaven.  For awhile we start transforming, but little by little we start conforming to the things of this world.  Our circumstances and situations change sometimes dramatically.  And to our shame, we start falling in love with the things of this world and it starts to have a hold on us.  We start out so enthusiastically but over time we lose some of our zeal.  The things that we clung to and that meant so much to us seem to wane in importance.  We start listening to voices and looking at things that we wouldn’t have before, and we start to lose our first love, the one we pledged our devotion to.  Other things start influencing us.  I don’t want to put everyone in the same box but this happens in many Christian’s lives.  As our love becomes divided, we become more fearful.  Many Christians at some point eventually start doubting their faith.  Then the fear gets more intense and end time events seem to be very scary to them.  If this is you I want you to know that God has not withdrawn His love from you.

God doesn’t change by turning, He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He is not a man that He should lie.  He loves you with an unconditional love. What the Lord wants you to do, is repent and do the things you did at first. Stop conforming and start renewing your mind.  Love Him and put Him back in His rightful place in your life.  If you do these things you won’t have to fear what is going to come on the earth.  When we know that we are right with the Lord then we can be excited in these times that lie ahead for we know that our redemption is closer than ever before.  Praise God and have a great day!                

No comments:

Post a Comment