The Return.9

"Two will be working in a field. 
One will be taken [i.e. received]
    and the other left behind [i.e. turned away].   

Two women will be grinding at a mill. 
One will be taken, [see above]
    and the other left behind [ditto]. 

Watch therefore: 

for you know not in which hour your Lord will return. 

But do know this: 
that if those in the house had known the hour of the thief’s coming, they would have remained watchful, and would not have let their stores be plundered."

--Jesus

I have a co-worker who has asked me on several occasions

image from politicaloutcast.com

if I believe in the "rapture" (meaning, of course, the way he believes in the "rapture".)  After waxing theological on a few of those occasions I've finally resolved to just say: No. I believe in Jesus.  Sigh...

I've come to understand that it isn't just Christians who, in times of great turmoil --which, by the way, is the cycle of mankind's history -- resort to finding comfort and relief in their version of doomsday predictions.  For decades the scientific community has offered its own impending cataclysmic scenarios resulting from man-made this or that. 

"It has been 45 years now since the first Earth Day. You would think that in this time frame, given the urgency with which we were told we had to confront the supposed threats to the environment—Harvard biologist George Wald told us, “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken”—at least one of the big environmental disasters should have come to fruition...

• Global Cooling 
• Overpopulation
• Mass Starvation
• Resource Depletion
• Mass Extinction
• Renewable Energy
• Global Warming 

The environmental doomsayers don’t just extrapolate blindly from current trends. They extrapolate only from the trends that fit their apocalyptic vision while ignoring trends that don’t fit. They project forward the current rate at which we’re using up our resources, but ignore the history of our ability to innovate and create. They get all excited by 20 years of rising temperature or rising oil prices—but ignore two centuries of rising wealth and longevity.
It’s almost as if they started with a preconceived conclusion and cast about for evidence to support it." 

(from http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/)



The only truly predictable thing is that doctrinal dogma, computer models, and political positions too often trump truth and create warring factions, disputing, hatred, greater governmental intervention, and power-mongering.

The watchfulness Jesus describes --and is building into His followers-- is not marked by accurate predictions of questionable interpretations, but by resistance.  

• Resistance to being un-choosable through disobedience, indolence, carelessness, thoughtlessness, fearfulness or self-will.
• Resistance to the thief and his lies.
• Resistance to letting evil plunder our hearts and homes.
• Resistance to letting the world system squeeze us into its predictable mold and robbing us of the freedom to live life in harmony with our Creator.
• Resistance to fashionable and chic, wealth and power, envy and coveting, materialism and ambition.

Let us then live with a readiness to give ourselves to Jesus in the quality and loveliness of life He inspires through His Spirit.  In a word: love one another as he loves us. Every moment, every day.

The Return.8

"Let not my returning find you unprepared; 
for like the springing of a trap, 
will it suddenly come upon the earth."

--Jesus

Recently my wife and I took four of our grandkids camping.

 Normally I love camping.  Enormously I love my grandkids. But this was a cold October weekend we chose for both.  After working through a tough week battling a cold and cowpoop, I just wasn't looking forward to battling weather and whippersnappers! 

We arrived late at night where we then had to set up camp, unload our horses, get them tied up and settle the kids down for a chilly night's sleep.  It was almost more than I could handle and all I could think about was how much I did not want to be here, I wanted to be home in the comfort of my own bed!

The next morning after waking I carefully unpeeled myself from between the puzzle-pieces of bodies lying all around, praying I wouldn't wake anyone before getting a first cup of coffee!  Outside, as I wandered aimlessly not wanting to go back in the camper and really not wanting to stay, a friend rescued me with the comforting words: we have coffee!

Comfort.  It has a powerful pull on a weak and weary soul, doesn't it? At one point I remember thinking that I was living an episode of Bear Gryll's Man vs Wild and recoiling at the notion of having to endure discomfort!

But if it's true that Jesus has a right to my absolute obedience I need to remember that He also has a right to determine my steps and I don't have a right to argue whether I like His will or not.  The "springing of the trap" of His will is a great word-picture of the surprise too many "Christians" experience when comfort is suddenly whisked away by death, disease, societal collapse, evil, cold-hearts and indifference. 

Blog sites are springing up daily on how to be prepared for this or that looming disaster.  For a follower of Jesus the primary preparation we must focus on is alacrity: quick, cheerful, complete obedience from the heart.  Whether His will calls us to great sacrifice, great watchfulness, great fellowship, great planting or great reaping, let it be said of us: we are ready!

By the way, a little perspective gives a great deal of comfort: we had a great weekend with family and friends!

The Return.7

"Do not let your heart be overwhelmed

         by the pursuit of earthly pleasure, 
              or the anxieties of life. "

--Jesus

o·ver·whelm

ˌōvərˈ(h)welm/

verb

past tense: overwhelmed; past participle: overwhelmed

1. -   bury or drown beneath a huge mass.

       "the water flowed through to overwhelm the whole dam and the village beneath"

   synonyms:

   swamp, submerge, engulf, bury, deluge, flood, inundate "advancing sand dunes could overwhelm the village"

   • defeat completely.

     "his teams overwhelmed their opponents"

     synonyms:

     defeat (utterly/heavily), trounce, rout, beat (hollow), conquer, vanquish,be victorious over, triumph over, worst, overcome, overthrow, crush;More

   • give too much of a thing to (someone); inundate.

     "they were overwhelmed by farewell messages"

   
   

How do we keep our hearts from being swamped, buried,

inundated, trounced, routed, conquered, vanquished, overthrown, crushed by this world; whether the allure of pleasure or the anxieties of life?

The Apostle Paul lived out Jesus' command and discovered the key to conquering the crushing pressures of this world's influences:

"We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

(2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

Two ends of the Anxiety Squeeze:

• Earthly Pleasure: "If things be our undoing, it matters little whether its things we have or things we don't have." The comfort and security of the American way of life is rapidly disappearing as the USA turns its back on God symbolized most recently by the late night removal of the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma state capitol and the celebration of a statue dedicated to Satan in Detroit!
• Anxieties of life: Christians are being targeted for persecution in a manner perhaps rivaling the days of Domitian and emperor worship in Rome.

There is an American Pastor, Saeed Abedini, sitting in an Iranian prison "carrying in his body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus" as his captors continually torture and try him for his testimony to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!  A gunman on a community college in Oregon pointedly asked students whether or not they were followers of Jesus. If they declared their allegiance to Jesus he shot them in the head wherein "the life of Jesus was also revealed in their bodies."

How do we keep from being overwhelmed?  By keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, the kind of faith He wants to find when He returns!  A faith marked by obedience, by letting go of the comforts and security of this world, and by taking a stand when called upon to declare our allegiance to Jesus!

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, 

and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy..." - Jude 1:24

The Return.6

"As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the time of the coming of the Son of Man. In the days that preceded the great flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and carelessly celebrating, until the day that Noah entered into the ark.

It was the same in the days of Lot. Men and women ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and built. But on the day that Lot departed from Sodom, it rained fire and molten sulfur from heaven, and destroyed them all. 

So will it be on the day that the Son of Man is revealed."

--Jesus

The recent exposure of Planned Parenthood's selling of human body parts is deeply disturbing.  Even more disturbing, however, is how quickly the culture moved on.  We treat the most troubling aspects of our society like any crash scene: we slow down, gawk for a few minutes, take out our cellphones, click a picture, post on social media, give our opinion and move on. 

Whether it's human beings chopped up and sold off for financial gain, or human beings deflating footballs for financial gain, its all the same when it comes to our culture's superficial attempts to express outrage - there is NO distinction between what truly matters and inanity.  

"This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, 'I have done no wrong.'” --Proverbs 30:20

But it's that very careless indifference that has resulted in the harshest of God's necessary course corrections throughout mankind's history. He has established boundaries in the earth for the seas, the sands, the habitable and inhabitable places. So also spiritual and moral boundaries. Individuals live with the consequences of crossing those boundaries; often bringing judgment in their own bodies and certainly within their own families. And when communities begin to adapt, accept, embrace and promote sinful attitudes and actions making excuses for and defending, yea, assaulting those who resist, there comes a point when God must intervene on a larger scale. 

John's Revelation formally introduces the world to the four agents he has used historically to enforce his spiritual/moral boundaries: Conquest, War, Pestilence and Famine.When righteousness has lost its ability to move a society toward the character of God, He is left with little recourse but to move it himself.

Of all the examples Jesus could have chosen from, Noah and Lot represent mankind's inclination to go from utter indifference to maniacal assault against the self-evident truths of God.

God's judgement is certain, history proves it.  But as in all things, Jesus is the final hope that Righteousness will prevail!  Faith in Him and obedience to Him is the distinction separating His followers from the careless indifference and truth assault taking place in the world today! 

The Return.5

"And he will send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet; and they will gather together his chosen ones as from the four winds, from the farthest ends of the heavens and earth, and reward everyone according to his works."

--Jesus

Each year, as the earth's calendar slowly winds its way around to the
month of June, the people of the United States of America wait with breathless anticipation more prodigious announcements from its Supreme Court.

The Year 2015 did not disappoint for drama as the Supremes weighed in on no less than the meaning of love and the meaning of words! And, as usual, their decisions were met with Fabulous Fawning on the victors side; Anger and Vitriol on the losers.

And the earth's calendar keeps moving...

To the day when the final Judge will reign Supreme.  His word: Truth.  His meaning: Clear.  His intentions: Good.  His reward: Sure.

Let us then, as Jesus' followers, fix our hope, not on temporal judgments of finite men, but on the things that last eternally, things that bring eternal reward, namely, Truth, Obedience, Goodness.

Can there be any greater reward than to hear the righteous Judge say: 

"Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter into the joy of your Master. In keeping my commandments reflecting my Father's goodness, you became True!"

The Return.4

"For even as the lightning flashes across the sky, illuminating the heavens from the east to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

At the end of time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the heavens, causing the nations of the earth to tremble.

All will see the Messiah, 
the Son of Man, 
appearing with 
power 
     and 
great glory; 

and they will see the Son of Man
     sitting on the right hand of the living God, 
          returning on the clouds of heaven."

--Jesus

Earthquakes and tornadoes share this in common:

 God-born inexorable power capable of reducing man-made things to rubble.

Imagine the world where every power source has been destroyed.  Imagine the sun, moon and stars no longer giving light to the earth.  Imagine in that suffocating darkness the terrible and glorious lightning flash revealing Jesus return to the earth -  transfixing every eye on His glory!


No eye, no mind, no heart will be able to question who is Lord of all the earth!

Maranatha!

The Return.3

"Do not believe those who tell you: "I have found one like Christ." For there will arise many deceitful imitators, and false prophets, exhibiting “signs” and “wonders,” so that even the elect will be deceived.

Some among you will say, "Behold, one like Christ is in the desert.” Do not hurry out looking for me. Or if they say, "Christ has come, and is in a secret location that I alone know of," do not believe it. " 

--Jesus

One Like Christ

In Escape From Reason, Francis Schaefer points out that the Anti-Christ is not the Anti-Non-Christ.  It is vitally important to understand that Jesus was and is the ultimate

expression of humanity, i.e., God's "logos" or idea of the qualities it takes to be fully human; a being in his image who is like God in nature. Therefore, any imitation, any being like Him, would have to have some of those qualities in order to attract other human beings.  

Thus, the disturbing trend in society of accepting ideas, "lifestyles", and practices that have been, historically, considered vile, obscene or worthless are esteemed and promoted because they are inoculated with terms like "tolerance", "love" and "civil rights" that let them pass through truth, reason and sensibility -- the guardians of civil behavior. 

Signs & Wonders

The movie, The Illusionist, gives a glimpse into the craft and effort it takes to deceive people into believing something that isn't.  The Prestige, demonstrates the awful means men will go to achieve their deceptive ends. In total they demonstrate the capacity humans have for deceiving and being deceived!

Deceitful Imitators

Jesus' words on the cost of discipleship sets a very high bar for commitment and obedience. Consider anew that we are to:

• take up our cross
• follow Him
• love him more than self
• be fit to plow
• decry earthly possessions
• obey all that He commanded us
• baptize and teach others to obey Him
• go the second mile
• pay the last penny
• give freely as we've received
• plant and sow His word
• seek the lost
• lay down our lives in love
• heal the sick
• feed the hungry
• clothe the naked
• visit the prisoner
• forgive as we've been forgiven

The only way to truly know a counterfeit is to truly know _
-- in intimate detail -- the Original.  The only way to know the True Jesus is to live our lives in absolute obedience to His commands.  He never asks us to do what He has not already done.  When we give ourselves to obedience we are giving ourselves to know His heart, the things that make it beat for the things He truly loves!

Militant love.

Sometimes I wonder if the Islamic "extremists" who live out their deadly beliefs are closer to the kind of passion Jesus requires of his followers then most of His followers are willing to live out?

Sometimes I wonder if any kind of passion for Christ that marks a person as peculiar is just too much for most of us.

Sometimes I wonder if our commitment to "bible study" is more important than our commitment to do all that Jesus said.

Sometimes I wonder if we understand that our "bible studies" are often no more than paper shuffling exercises that make us feel we are accomplishing something significant for the Kingdom of Heaven but have little productive value in changing lives; our own or others.

Sometimes I wonder if our struggle to live out our faith is because we know in our hearts that these paper shuffling activities can't really teach us His heart anywhere close what actually putting His words into practice will.  But due to fearfulness --whether to actually DO what He asks or fear of what others will think-- we don't even make baby steps of obedience.

Sometimes I wonder if we confuse obedience with perfection.  Obedience is not perfection, it is trying.  Trying then Trusting that the Perfect One will coach, strengthen, discipline, teach and help us eventually get it right!