What Does the Future Hold?
Promotional picture from “The Day After Tomorrow” movie
Father, thank You for a much-needed quiet day at home. This past week has been something else, but You brought us through it. May we feel – and acknowledge! – Your presence with us in the up-and-coming week. Amen.
Luke 21:25-28 (<<click here to read the passage)
I enjoy watching movies that deal with people’s visions of what the future may hold. Some are positive and hopeful, but many are sad and depressing, featuring a post-apocalyptic world in which the Earth’s technological civilization is collapsing or has collapsed.
One of my favorites is The Day After Tomorrow, released in 2004. It details massive climate change that leads to a new ice age, anything caught in the eyes of these massive storms is subject to a -150 degrees Fahrenheit drop in temperature! Many survive but there is lots of craziness, to say the least.
The first few verses of Jesus’ dialogue here towards the end of chapter 21, sound like it could be a great starter seed for a new Hollywood blockbuster. The catch though is this is undoubtedly not fiction. It will take place…we just don’t know when.
“And there will be strange signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And here on earth the nations will be in turmoil, perplexed by the roaring seas and strange tides. People will be terrified at what they see coming upon the earth, for the powers in the heavens will be shaken. v25-26 NLT
Everything about the world around us will be in upheaval! It will not just be a scary storm even on the scale of tornados and hurricanes. The New Living Translation says people will be terrified. The Amplified Bible says, people fainting from fear and expectation, where the King James Version reads, Men’s hearts failing them for fear. Definitely not an afternoon at the movies!
But even though it may feel like the end, in reality, it is simply the end of the beginning for as verse 27 tells us,
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with [transcendent, overwhelming] power [subduing the nations] and with great glory. AMP
And there we have the beginning of eternity as we shall know it! While the world may cringe in fear, we as followers of Christ must be about introducing them to the Son of Man, as Jesus referred to Himself, so that when these truths come to fruition, they too will not fear but rejoice at the coming of Christ!
So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near!” v28
Nov 22nd, 2020, Sun, 6:04 pm
I Trust Him!
Oh, what joy for those
….whose disobedience is forgiven,
….whose sin is put out of sight!
Yes, what joy for those
….whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,
….whose lives are lived in complete honesty! Psalm 32:1-2 NLT
Luke 21:9-24 (<<click here to read the passage)
To be perfectly honest I struggle with passages of this nature. I have seen and interacted with so many people who have been caught up in trying to figure it all out. They spend hours lifting every leaf of “evidence” in hopes of finding the “answer”. It’s taking everything in me to continue typing because I absolutely abhor the obsession with it all!
But…it is important because Jesus, our Lord, and Savior, mentioned it not just once in His teachings but several times over throughout His ministry. It is a worthwhile line of study, but the problem lies in the fact that there is only so much that we can know and the rest – all of it – is known to God alone! All the particulars, the fine details, the whos, the wheres, the whens are known to God alone!
And I am secure enough in my relationship with Him to trust Him. I don’t need to know it all to trust Him. I don’t need to understand it all to trust Him. I don’t need to have all my questions answered because in Jesus we find all the answers to all of life’s questions, both great and small…and I trust Him.
One thing of importance that I glean from this passage is the fact that we will not go through one minute of it by ourselves. God will continue to be our Emmanuel – our “God with us”. He will give us the right words when we need them. We will show forth His wisdom…but we most assuredly will go through it.
I don’t know about all the pre-trib (tribulation), mid-trib, post-trib points of discussion but we will go through some sort of tribulation and it will be no walk in the park. It will be hard – and even that word is too soft! Look at some of the words in what Jesus had to say: persecution, dragged, stand trial, charges against you, betray, kill, hate.
Those are all very hard words. But Jesus makes it very clear in verse 19, “By standing firm, you will win your souls.”
What we have to comprehend is that this won’t be the outcome of our relationship with Christ if we don’t truly have a relationship with Him.
Many of us in our formative years had a test for which we needed to be ready. And at some point, amongst them all, there was one for which we were not ready. We played instead of studying and in the end, we failed. We neglected what we needed to do to achieve the desired end result.
If we are to be ready for whatever tribulation we must endure, we cannot neglect our relationship with Jesus. If we are to hear His voice, we must listen to Him speak now. If we need His word to come to mind at the time He needs it to, we have to read it and study it now! He has given us everything we need…Himself. May we use it wisely. Amen.
Nov 19th, 2020, Thurs, 6:50 pm
Hoodwinked!
Father make Your presence known in a very palpable way. We should be heading into a relative time of peace and gratitude but with all that is about us, the norms for many will not be the norms any time in the near future. No matter how much we may say we do not need You, the reality is that we most definitely do. You know that we do. Help us to see You. May Your radiance pierce through our darkness. Amen.
Luke 21:5-8 (<<click here to read the passage)
Charlatans seem to have always been amongst us. They may be in it for wealth or power. One would think that average everyday people wouldn’t buy into whatever they were selling but that is most definitely not the case.
Another word that comes to mind in this line of thought is the word hoodwink. Cambridge Dictionary’s definition is to deceive or trick someone.
When Jesus’ disciples commented on the beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem, He made it very clear that though a formidable structure it would be a pile of rubble in the not too distant future. Though it had been in existence for over six centuries, shortly after Jesus’ time here on earth it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Of course, they asked,
“Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when these things are about to happen?” v7 AMP
And He replied with a warning,
“Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. v8 AMP
Enter the charlatans ready to hoodwink. Did you realize that even in the “enlightened” time in which we live there are numerous – yes, numerous! – individuals who claim to be the Messiah…Jesus Christ returned to earth?
One such individual is a man by the name of Vissarion, the Christ of Siberia. A traffic policeman in the 1980s, his first revelation that he was Jesus Christ came at the same time as the breakup of the Soviet Union. Since then he has gathered a following of 5,000–10,000 disciples in the Siberian forest. They live there in separate villages with their own infrastructure and social systems.
Do not be hoodwinked by charlatans! Again Jesus’ words,
“Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them. v8
I don’t know what took place in the minds and lives of the individuals who all believe they are God’s Anointed One…but He has yet to arrive. We will know, for Jesus Himself in Mark’s Gospel tells us,
Then everyone will see the Son of Man [a title Jesus used for himself] coming on the clouds with great power and glory. Mark 13:26 NLT
What a day, glorious day, that will be!
Nov 18th, 2020, Wed, 1:03 pm
Give Until It Hurts
….I trust in the Lord.
I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love,
….for you have seen my troubles,
….and you care about the anguish of my soul. Psalm 31:6a-7 NLT
Luke 21:1-4 (<<click here to read the passage)
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “give until it hurts.” In looking to find where it originated, I was surprised to discover that it came from a speech that Mother Teresa gave as she addressed the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on February 3, 1994. I read a portion of it and though it is definitely not limited to a monetary perspective it is very applicable to today’s passage. (Click here if you’d like to read it yourself.)
Here is Luke 21:1-4 from the New Living Translation,
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people dropping their gifts in the collection box. Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two small coins.
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has.”
“This poor widow” gave until it hurt. She, though poor, gave everything she had to live on. And to make it very clear, widows had it rough in that without a husband or son to provide for them, it was very difficult to meet even the basic needs of life. She felt compelled to give what she could out of her gratitude for God’s provision. She gave until it hurt.
Many others dropped their gifts in the collection box. But unlike the widow, they gave out of their surplus. Oh…wait a minute…that’s not exactly what Jesus said. He said specifically, “For they have given a tiny part of their surplus.” (emphasis mine)
Sure, most of us give – all good followers of Christ do. But many of us would have to admit that we will gladly give as long as it doesn’t cut into our new car fund. Or we might be “generous” in giving what remains after our shopping spree the day before. Those things, for many of us, equal a tiny part of our surplus.
In our culture, we may not define our income as exorbitant but most of us get by pretty well. We may not live in mansions or drive luxury cars, but we get what we want. We do not lack for food or satisfactory shelter. How many people, regardless of income or affluence, do not have a cell phone of some sort? They aren’t cheap, but we pinch in other places so we can have one…each, mind you.
There is nothing wrong with things but, as followers of Christ, we need to strive to live out the concept of giving until it hurts. And it would do us all a world of good to make it the norm and not the exception to the rule.
May we make every effort follow the precept set forth in Proverbs 3:9,
Honor the Lord with your wealth
….and with the best part of everything you produce. NLT
Not with what’s left, not after we set aside for our wish list but the best part of everything.
Oh, and one more thing, let’s not limit this to money. We are all abundantly blessed with all kinds of resources, time, talents, and maybe most important of all…love.
Lord Jesus, help us to learn to give until it hurts. Amen.
Nov 17th, 2020, Tues, 4:49 pm
Rotten Where It Counts Most
Father, I would plead that You would keep us together. There is so much that we are allowing to divide and then there are things beyond our control that are holding us apart. Provide the bridges we need to weather our storms. Amen.
Luke 20:45-47 (<<click here to read the passage)
I love apples, though I can’t really indulge myself in that they aren’t diabetic friendly. A disappointing thing about apples is the fact that on occasion I would bite into a bad one.
On the outside, it would look absolutely luscious, and then I would take a bite, chew a bit, and spit it out! The outside of the apple was but a façade in that the inside was brown and completely inedible. It got to the point where I would slice all my apples before attempting to eat them, just to avoid the problem.
From what I’ve read there are a few contributing factors to internal browning. They could have been picked too ripe, or maybe they were stored too long. It is a known potential problem when storing apples in long term cold storage. But regardless of why it happens, it’s gross when it does!
If you were a run-of-the-mill guy in Jesus’ day you would probably have looked at the teachers of the Law with admiration and respect. They seemed to do everything right. Oh, if only we could be like them. They were the ones who God liked the most…at least it looked that way.
Everything may have looked impressive on the outside but for most of them it was just a façade – closer inspection of the inside showed them to be rotten where it counted most!
It may have been hard for the common man to believe, but behind their appearance of holiness and respectability, they were arrogant, crafty, selfish, and uncaring. Jesus exposed their evil hearts showing that despite their pious words, they were neglecting God’s laws and doing as they pleased. *
All preachers and teachers of God’s word carry a heavy responsibility. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote,
…you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard [because we have assumed greater accountability and more condemnation if we teach incorrectly]. James 3:1 AMP
And Jesus said of these teachers of the Law,
“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes [displaying their prominence], and love respectful greetings in the [crowded] market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. These [men] who confiscate and devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense [to appear devout] offer long prayers. These [men] will receive the greater [sentence of] condemnation.” v46-47 AMP (emphasis mine)
When it comes right down to it as followers of Christ, we must realize that religious deeds do not cancel sin. What really counts is being living examples of mercy and justice. *
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Nov 16th, 2020, Mon, 6:54 pm