Many thoughts have taken center stage in my mind over the past year or two, a musing of sorts, trying to figure out what the heck is going on? Are we in unprecedented times or is this a recurrence of times past revisited? After all, there is nothing new under the sun? Right? Sometimes, I think am I just getting old and bitter, like we thought our parents were in the 80's when they were complaining about Madonna and MTV? What about Boy George? I thought the 80's were perfect and everything was right in the world, was it because I never watched the news or because we didn't have social media? I believe I heard that the 80's was a very dangerous time in America, more murders than ever before? I also think in the 80's there was a sexual revolution going on, but I was totally unaware of it. We can even go back before that and look at the 60's and 70's: free love, sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Not to mention all the fall out and deaths from the Vietnam War, and the country was divided then too, right? Even Covid, though it is a new virus, it is definitely not the first deadly virus, there have been others just as devastating, or even more devastating? So, I guess the question I am posing is this, "Is the world getting progressively worse and worse, and if so, what is our hope? What is your hope? What is my hope?
With truth being so distorted and fluid in our culture, I would like to refer to the only absolute truth I know, God's word, the Bible, to answer these questions. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, it talks about how the whole creation groans as if in birthing pains, waiting until the day Christ returns and restores creation to it's original glory. The way it was before sin entered the world. Likewise, we have that same longing for eternity in our hearts. As we age, we realize how short life on earth actually is, and we long for eternity, where we will live forever with our Creator. The Bible also talks about the last days (the last days started after Christ's resurrection) saying, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying it's power. Avoid such people...." 2 Timothy 3:1-17. Then again in 2 Peter 3:3-4, "Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." As for me, this sounds exactly like the world we are living in today. However, other generations could have probably said the same thing. So, my thoughts are centered around "birthing pains." Any mother who has given birth knows all too well about birthing pains, they start out somewhat mild, and then they increase in intensity and become closer together. I think (Bible scholars out there please correct me if I am wrong) that this means the world is getting worse and worse in intensity, with moments of relief in between, and the closer the end comes the more frequently we will be subjected to these hard times. With that being said, that sounds ever so hopeless and grim, so please stick with me.......
So, if it's true, we are always getting closer to the end times, and things will increasingly become more intense, what is our hope? What is the silver lining? What is our purpose in life to be? Are we just to sit around and become doomsday preppers and hoard toilet paper? Are we to scowl at the generations before us, and think they have no hope? Are we to stop having children, because you don't want them to have to live in times such as these? Are we to stop eating cows because of their emissions hurting the earth? (I'm being facetious) Absolutely NOT! According to the Bible, as quoted by Matt Chandler, you and I were exactly wired and placed on the earth for such a time as this! In Psalm 139:13-16, it says, "For you formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them." Also, in Acts 17:24, 26-27, it talks about how God not only uniquely formed you and gave you a specific purpose, He also placed you exactly where you are and in this specific moment of history. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth..... made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him....He is actually not far from each one of us..."
So how are we to not only respond to the times in which we've been placed, but also thrive with joy in the times in which we've been placed?? First of all, without Christ, I absolutely see no hope. I don't say that to sound harsh, but just to be truthful. You can live this life for the day, seeking to satisfy your every want and need, having fleeting moments of pleasure, but that will ultimately leave you depleted and headed for death and separation from God. In fact, when people purposefully turn away from God to seek their own way, He will eventually give them over to a retrobate mind, which means a morally corrupt, depraved person, foredained to damnation. Christ doesn't want any of us to perish, and He wants us to be His child, but if we refuse that love, He will give us what we want, a life without Him. We are definitely living in a world that has turned it's back on God, living by their truth instead of God's, calling evil good and good evil. We are to pray earnestly for those people to turn back to God. We are to be light in the darkness. We are called to love those in our path. God has given us such great blessings in this world and those are to be enjoyed fully, but He has also given us boundaries for our safety and for our good. It is only when we think we know better than God, that those things can be abused. As for Christians, we have a great hope, both for now and for the future. When we set our trust and faith in Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. We never have to experience this life alone. We have a great Comforter who is always with us in the darkest of times. He guides our paths and works everything for our good. We can have peace and joy in the middle of hard times because of those truths, and we know that Christ conquered sin and death for us. We have the hope of living with God for all of eternity, so we become spiritually minded, and set our mind on whatever is lovely, whatever is noble, whatever is pure... We set our hope on Christ. It makes the Christian life an exciting life, where our purpose is clear to seek Christ, to know and trust Him more, and to share Him with the world. Matt Chandler said it best in his book Take Heart, "God has uniquely wired you with specific gifts and tendencies, and uniquely placed you where you live, work and play in order to give you unique opportunities to speak to those he's lined up for you to meet about the God who has done all this. God could have given today's church an Augustine, a Martin Luther, a Jonathan Edwards, an Amy Carmichael, a C.H. Spurgeon, an Elisabeth Elliot..... But He didn't. He gave today's church, in this age of unbelief, you and me. That's our calling. That's our privilege. That's our responsibility." How dang exciting is that!!!! We were put here to make a difference for Christ, and that should leave us never bored, because we definitely have our work cut out for us. For you were made for such a time as this..........
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