The world is changing. Or is the veil being pulled back? Is it possible that it is just continuing its downward spiral and we are nearing the end? Or, is this just simply our awareness and the worse is yet to come? Sounds pretty dismal and bleak. Are we just suppose to stand by and play the fiddle while Rome burns? That's what some misguided people would have you think.
Some people have gotten to the point that Jeremiah had reached. For so long he had prayed for his fellow citizens, praying that the Lord would stay his hand but the entire time he was praying for them they were abusing him. They shouted him down, beat him, threw him in jail until it got so bad that Jeremiah stopped praying for them and told the Lord, "Bring it on. The sooner the better".
I am hearing more and more this chorus going up "Come Lord come", knowing that this would bring on the judgement. We used to pray "Tary but a bit longer Lord" not because we did not want to go but because there were so many who did not yet know him. Why do you think the Lord has waited these two thousand years? He wants the banquet hall to be full.
Put away the fiddles because we have some real work to do. Apostle Paul outlined it to the Thessalonians. It is worth reading the entire fifth chapter because I am going to leave off some of the good bits just to focus on some very important instructions for us in these days.
Verse 14: "We appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, to instruct those who are not in their place of battle." Instead of cheering on the destruction of those who offend you, look around and see who is not in position. See who is in your sphere of influence who has not understood the instructions and help them by showing them. Of course, you better make sure that the Lord's new commandment of loving each other in the same manner he has loved us is your motivation.
It is important that if we are going to engage with these instructions that we are doing so because we love our brothers and sisters and not because we want to put them in their place. They are not in their place of battle because they do not know who they are, they do not know how to fight, they do not know the enemy is not people but the dark principality. Maybe they are discouraged. It is not just those who are not worshiping and praying but those who are fighting with wrong motivations. We are to come along, be their friend and influence them into position.
Verse 14: "Be skilled at gently encouraging those who feel themselves inadequate." I am sure you know plenty of Christians who feel inadequate, who feel they can't talk, teach, lead or even pray. I have heard so many say they can't understand the Bible and they could never talk to other people about Jesus. It's all a lie of the enemy because the adequacy does not come from us but by Spirit in us. We are all possessed by him so we are all equipped by him. The Body of Christ is in great need of encouragers.
Now take note of "be skilled at". This skill is more a skill of humility, understanding that we are not able to do anything outside of Jesus. The skill is the focus, the listening and the acting upon what you hear. The skill increases as you use it and we are to use it constantly. We say we are a people of faith and yet we struggle to trust that he enables us to do all this and more.
Verse 14: "Be faithful to stand your ground." Our Father loves faithfulness. He loves when we keep our word, our commitment. He loves when we are faithful to people. He loves when we are faithful to his instructions. This faithfulness is empowered by love. Stand your ground. Do what is right according to Father's heart. Stick it out with people. Be his voice in their lives. Don't be surprise by evil but stand your ground to overcome that evil by good. Be faithful to our Lord as he is faithful to us.
Verse 14: "Help the weak to stand again." People are use to friends coming and going. They are used to people being afraid of their "sins". They are used to people not sticking to the meaning of friendship. But we are called to be more than that. As the world gets darker and more confusing weaker Christians are going to need the faithful friendship of the stronger brothers and sisters.
Verse 14: "Be quick to demonstrate patience with everyone." Are you beginning to see how we might be falling short of the Lord's design for the Body of Christ? We are in this together, weak and strong. We are responsible for each other. We have a duty to each other. "No soldier is left behind." We have all heard it said that we are the only army that kills it's wounded. The thing is, we aren't even an army. We are more like a hospital and it is all hands on deck to see everyone healed and made whole again. This will require more patience than you can imagine. But remember, "Love is patient, love is kind ..."
Verse 15: "Resist revenge, and make sure that no one pays back evil in place of evil but always pursue doing what is beautiful to one another and to all the unbelievers." Yes, the Spirit inspired these words and Jesus demonstrated it. When his followers wanted to call down the fires of heaven Jesus rebuked them saying he had come to save lives not kill them. We would do well to remember this every time we feel our blood boiling and our hearty beat increasing as we read some of the garbage on social media. According to Proverbs there is a time when answering a fool is folly and other times when not answering a fool is folly. The trick is to be so intimate with the Spirit that you know the difference.
Instead of trying to think of ways you can prove someone wrong we are instructed to pursue beautiful things to do for each other. That requires our hearts to be full of love, full of mercy, full of grace. And that only comes when your roots are found in the multi-dimensional love of Christ. So, the most important thing is to be occupying yourself with him and then everything else happens from the overflow.
This is what the end times are suppose to look like to us. It is not a time to celebrate the destruction of our enemies but the encouraging of one another. It is not seeking revenge on our enemies but pursuing ways that we can do beautiful things for them. This is the Body of Christ, occupied with the mission to rescue as many as we can while supporting each other in the mission. May our Lord find us faithful to the tasks assigned when he returns.
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