As we sit and wait to see if another madman will drag us into another world conflict, we should do a little reflection on how we are impacting the world as individuals. This crazy little man is willing to sacrifice countless lives for some hidden personal agenda. What are you willing to sacrifice to impact this world as Jesus did? There is no doubt we are in the last days so we need to do everything we can to fulfill the mandate that Jesus gave us which is to present him to everyone we can, whenever we can, wherever we are.
The world is going crazy, and not just because of dictators. Look to our own neighbourhoods and lives. We have neighbours killing neighbours, parents killing children, children killing parents, children killing themselves. We have wife abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, animal abuse. We have countless thousands of unborn children being killed on the altar of self. It is crazy and will only get crazier. The Spirit warned us through Apostle Paul:
People will love only themselves and money. They will be proud, stuck-up, rude, and disobedient to their parents. They will also be ungrateful, godless, heartless, and hateful. Their words will be cruel, and they will have no self-control or pity. These people will hate everything that is good. They will be sneaky, reckless, and puffed up with pride. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. (2 Timothy 3:2-4)
That is a lot to take in so take it one thing at a time.
The first is a great description of a lot of people I meet today : People will love only themselves and money. For sure, there are a lot of great people who have a heart for others but those numbers are falling. Many problems in our cities and neighbourhoods are because people put themselves ahead of others. If people were not in love with themselves, we wouldn't mind sacrificing for each other. The question is, are we any better? The money issue speaks for itself.
Consider the people you see every day. Would you describe any of them as being proud, stuck-up (not willing to associate with those in a perceived lower class), rude, disobedient to their parents? Obedience to parents is a big thing to God. If we don't learn obedience to our parents then disobedience will run in everything we do. We will find ways to get out of paying taxes, cheating the system, doing whatever we can to better ourselves against the system without getting caught. Disobedience is a huge problem and I am not referring to teenagers.
What better way to describe the growing attitude of our society than ungrateful, godless, heartless and hateful. It is a very angry society, hurting and being hurt. There is a lot of hate out there and it doesn't take much to touch it off. People care less about their neighbours. Maybe they mean to care but they don't. "Live and let live" because I don't want to be involved, is a great way of summing up a lot of attitudes I see these days.
Notice how Paul is describing the people of the end days because what is being described is a people who have lost love: cruel words, no self-control, no pity. They just have no heart. They don't know grace or even understand it. It's all about vengeance and justice. The love those who love them and hate those that hate them. These are the days we are living in as we see our communities and the world being transformed by an underlying hate and distrust.
So where is this evil coming from? Simple : instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. That is all we live for, what our society orbits around; pleasure. We don't want anything to interfere with it. Half the world is starving to death but we are fine as long as we have our $500 game counsel and the latest smart phone. It is incredible how the world has changed in 50 years. I really don't think it has another 50 to go.
In this mess we have been given the task of burning bright for Jesus. We recognize the times we are in. We continue to call good good and evil evil. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and we refuse to be polluted by the self-centered atmosphere of our society. We know we are here to serve. We are here to impact the world for Jesus. In the face of the selfishness of our society we live a selfless life, willing to give it all up for the sake of one soul. Does this describe us? It should if Jesus is our everything. It should if we understand our mission. It should if we are walking in obedience because we love him.
According to the world thermometer, it is time to wake up from the intoxication of this world and seek the holiness of our God. It is time to put on the robe of righteousness and live every moment of every day for the glory of our King. We have been distracted long enough; now let's get our mind and heart on things above.
No comments:
Post a Comment