Living In The Great Until

Living in the great untilThere are days when I’m ready to give up. I look up to heaven and say, “Lord, today would be a good day,” meaning I’m ready for Jesus to come get His bride. But by nature I am not a quitter; I’m a natural born fighter. But the real good news, the gospel, is that the battle has already been won. We’re just waiting for Jesus’ “victory lap.”

    “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-26)

On Sunday our pastor was preaching on “What To Do In A Difficult Day” and he said that “we are living in the great until.” It means we live as though Jesus Christ could return at anytime, because He could.

    “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2)

However, we do not sit around awaiting that moment as though there is no work for us to do. There is much work to be done and we must be prepared, ready, and willing to go.

    “After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.’” (Luke 10:1-3)

Our country is in quite a mess. I told my wife on Sunday that our nation is truly being punished for its great sinfulness. But I don’t say that in helplessness, I say that filled with hope. I know the antidote for what ails America. It is in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the cure for all our problems.

Okay, great Bro Dave how are we supposed to make that work. Eighty-five percent of Americans already claim to be Christians. Glad you asked! (See how I set you up?)

It is up to us, born-again believers, to share the good news of Jesus Christ in the dark days in which we live. We can live lives full of hope and joy because we know how the story ends. We do not have to fret about our future or even today because Jesus Christ has won and He is King of all the universe! And He will return to claim His victory.

    “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” (Hebrews 9:24-28)

So while we wait upon the Lord to return and live in the great until, we as Christians should be the best citizens, employees/employers, and neighbors. Right now is the best time to share the hope that is Jesus Christ by not falling prey to the feelings of anger, hatred, and hopelessness that is running rampant in society.

We should be standing firm like trees in a hurricane, bending but never breaking under the onslaught of evil that has invaded our nation. We, and our churches, should be beacons of hope to our communities, a light in a dark day were people can rest their weary souls and leave their burdens behind.

I love my country. America is the best nation in all of human history. And while I shall fight for its survival, should it come to an end I will not fret because this world is not my home. This planet is a temporary living space. One day our world and universe will be made perfect.

    “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (1 Peter 3:10-13)

Our nation is indeed facing the perilous times of which Paul warned Timothy (see 2 Timothy 3). But I am not living in these perilous times; I refuse to.

I am living in the great until…

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2013 David Jeffers

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