I know this for certain.
For someone, tomorrow is the end of the world. It may actually be the end for all of us. It may be the end of many people due to a collective bad decision. It will be the end for some people on the highways, some in homes and hospitals, and some at the hands of violent and lawless people. This could, honestly, be the last blog post of mine that you read. You could be gone----so could I.
As to the overall hullaballoo over dates and times, I would pose for us all this question:
Since you don't know if tomorrow's really the end or not, why are you not living your life as if it is the end?
We frequently read inspiring stories of how someone found out their death was near and then lived out marvelously. We hear of being told to "put your affairs in order" and how someone seeks love and forgiveness after years of bitterness.
Why do we wait? What if it is the end? It could be---even if it's just the end of your life. You may not get to go to church Sunday to gloat that you weren't sucked in. There may be no future for you.
What decisions need to be made? What choices should you be making differently?
Why will we not do them?
There are long-term plans I want to accomplish, and I am working on the plans and processes to see them happen. Yet this I know: I do not want my last thought to be a regret of what I didn't do that I could have done.
True, I may never make it around the world. I will probably never get to preach in Scotland or set foot in the library at Oxford. Rome will likely always be known through pictures, and Athens through books. Is that any excuse not to preach in Arkansas or see what I can?
There will always be people guessing when the end for all of us is near. Harold Camping has it this weekend, with summation in October. Timothy Geithner has the collapse of the US in August (debt limit thing). Stephen Hawking puts it in another 4.5 billion years.
Does it really matter? None of us have any control over it anyway. Make the decisions now that will cause you to be ready for it whenever it is…
Doug
Oh yeah---gratuitous inspirational video link:
Just talking about that with my boys. We DON'T know when our lives will end, and we should ALWAYS be ready.
ReplyDeleteJulie