The End...

One thing I have discovered over my short life thus far is that sometimes people are wrong. I can be wrong, you can be wrong, he can be wrong, she can be wrong. Christians can be wrong, atheists are wrong (but don't tell them that or you'll never hear the end of it)... people of all cultures, backgrounds, and races each have the ability (and tendency) to be wrong. What is most frustrating about being wrong, is having to admit this to other people. Some people won't do it for anything... when they think they're right, they're right. Some shrink away till they become more of a doormat.... always declaring that they were wrong and the other person is right. Very few seem to have the ability to do both: admit when they're wrong and stand firm when they're right. But how does one really know when it's the right time to do either? Even your decisions in that can be wrong!

Take for example, our recent "End of the World" prediction. Even though the rapture didn't happen as predicted, I'm not going to say the guy is completely and utterly mistaken. One of his statements was "It's the beginning of the end"... which to me, is different from just "the end".

As a believer, I have looked forward to Jesus's return since I first learned about it (although I did occasionally ask Him to hold off until ____ or _____ happened). When I first started reading Revelation and Daniel, I got so interested in studying it because I wanted to know "When"... when is it going to happen? Growing up, I remember Dad always saying that it would happen before we graduated high school. Obviously... it didn't. We've seen people predict it (to the day) over and over and then... nothing happens.

Unfortunately, what I've come to realize is that these predictions (with nothing happening) only make the world as a whole less and less likely to believe it will ever happen. Why do you think the Bible says there will be "scoffers"? People might've been inclined to believe Noah when he first began building his boat (even though they'd probably never seen such a thing as rain) because it was a new idea and he was passionate about it. But after a few hundred years of building it... people were fed up with even the mention of it!

Today, Christians are a group of people who have waited for Christ's return for about 2,000 years. The first and early churches believed they'd get to experience it, just as we feel like we will experience it now. What I find so incredibly sad is that instead of focusing energy and resources on really reaching out to others and showing them love and other 'fruits' daily (which can lead them to Jesus), many Christians focus all of their attention on the "urgency" to become a Christian. "You're almost out of time. The world's gonna end; better accept Jesus NOW!!!" This goes hand in hand with the question: "Do you know where you will go if you die tomorrow? Hell is full of fire and darkness and despair... Jesus is the only one that can save you from that so choose Him NOW!"

I'm not saying these things don't have any truth to them, by no means! There should be an urgency because this life is all you've got to decide! But when you only view Jesus as a "way to get to heaven" or "Fire Insurance", there's no real relationship there. You never get to experience His awesome presence in your life. Others never get to see His love through you. The very thought or image people have of Him gets completely obscured.

Many have come and many will come professing a day when "The End" is here... I'm not going to tell you not to listen to them. Even if nothing happens, it's a good time to evaluate where you are, spiritually, in your life. But I'm not going to necessarily urge you to listen to them either... mainly because of that verse that says "The day and the hour are unknown". But I do believe, just as others hundreds of years before me have believed, that He will come soon. But God's version of 'soon' and our version of 'soon' are two very different things. As Aslan says in "The Chronicles of Narnia": "I call all time soon". So whether the predictors turn out to be right or wrong... it doesn't matter. Knowing you have peace about whenever it DOES finally happen (tomorrow or years and years from now), is more important.