There is always something going on around us that we are aware of and it is not all good or bad. Actually, it is some good and some bad. At times, there is a louder voice of one or the other. But today it seems to be the bad that has a louder voice.
Even in Christian circles the voices are louder than they may have been in the past. We often consider loud based on the volume but loud can also be a word used to describe the content of what is being communicated. Especially if it is not a common or accepted thought.
The reason I am making these observations on a broad scale is that I am not focusing on any one topic or individual. I am speaking in the general sense based on what we all see and hear happening around us. This is not a Christian thing or an American thing. Rather it is a worldwide thing and that makes it a human thing. Mankind is and always has been unable to accept the truth and accept the natural order of the world. Since the Garden of Eden, mankind has fought against God and been drawn and swayed by not only a desire to be god but also by the one who first had that same thought.
I look at and consider everything as a Christian and thus from a Christian worldview. As a Christian, that is the only way that I can know and thus understand what is happening around me. The basis for this is founded in the Scripture. I cannot allow myself to be bothered by and especially influenced by those who hold different thoughts on the world. That does not mean I would not or do not pray for them. It doesn't mean that I would not help them in a time of need. That I would not be willing to sit and talk with them about God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Nowhere in Scripture are we as Christians told that we are to convince or change anybody. It is not mine or yours to change their mind. According to the Word of God Jesus said in Matthew 22:37–38 when asked what the greatest commandment was He replied to-
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment.
So according to Scripture and the very words of Jesus Christ Himself, my role and yours are to love the Lord God. We refer to this as the Great Commandment.
As the television salesperson would say "But wait there's more". Look at what Jesus said in the next verse-
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
So my responsibility is to love the Lord and love others. I can do that, can't you?
We are also told that in Matthew 28:18-20 which we know as the Great Commission that Jesus said-
18 ...“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[b] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
So my responsibility is to love the Lord and love others. Then I also have a responsibility to tell them about Jesus Christ, the Gospel, the Good News. You know I can do that, can't you?
There is always something going on that I don't like or agree with as a Christian. Those things bother me and cause me some consternation. I want to fix them or see them change. Then I go back to the Scripture. There is no reason for me to think things are going to get better because, for the most part, they are not. Mankind is going to continue to spiral toward the ultimate crash that will end this world as we know it. It won't come to an end on mankind's terms, but rather on God's as He judges this world. This will happen when the things we know in Scripture come to fruition.
How long do we have? For you and I in the natural scheme of things, we have about 80 years plus or minus. It may be sooner or later but that all depends on God. Is He sending His Son today to rapture His church? The bride of Christ?
In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul was talking to them about things that were bothering and concerning them about death and the return of Jesus Christ. In the following verses, he helps them to understand.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
By the way, only the Father knows when Jesus is coming and the Scriptures make that perfectly clear.
In Matthew 24:36 Jesus said-
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son but the Father only.
Today there is much to be considered and thought about. When Paul was talking to those in Thessalonica about Jesus' return he closed by saying-
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
With all of that said, let me take you back a paragraph or two to this point that I made-
So my responsibility is to love the Lord and love others. Then I also have a responsibility to tell them about Jesus Christ. You know the Gospel, the Good News. You know that I can do that, can't you?
I wanted to close with that today as an encouragement to you. Look to the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and find the peace that will help you go through this life each day.
In God's Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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