This one is personal. I have no doubt it will offend some of you.
That’s just the way it goes.
I’m not one of those people who looks at the headlines and tries to figure out when the world will end. There are already people doing that, and that’s fine, but I find that exercise to basically be futile. If you read the Bible, you will see - especially in Paul’s letters to the various churches - that many people 2,000 years ago thought the end of days was imminent.
They were wrong.
But the end of days will come one day. Just don’t try to figure out when.
Now is a good time to ponder this because, as we all know, there is war in the Middle East. Of course, in my lifetime there have been Middle Eastern wars off and on every few years.
The 1967 War. The Yom Kippur War. The invasion of Lebanon. Not to mention Desert Storm, Iraq, and on and on… It’s not, nor has it ever been, a peaceful place; at least not for very long.
Therefore, on what appears to be the cusp of a ground war in which Israel intends to eliminate Hamas, it could be considered one more in a very long line of bloody conflicts that have plagued this region for the past 5,000 years.
For the record, I stand firmly with Israel. As a Christian, I serve a King named Jesus, who, as it happens was born a Jew. I believe He is Messiah, and I say that with nothing but absolute love and respect for anyone, Jew or Gentile, who disagrees.
But I won’t move from that position. And because I won’t be dissuaded from saying Jesus is my King and He is who He says - that is, the Son of God - I also have to say something else that will baffle, anger or offend some of you.
You need Him.
Because right now, armies are lining up in a tinderbox part of the world that one day (probably not right away, but then again maybe) will see the culmination of human history and it won’t be pleasant.
I realize some of you think I’m a fool or deluded. That’s OK. You’re free to believe what you want. But in my experience I’ve learned one thing: As screwed up and wrong as I can be about a lot of things, I’ve found that knowing Who Jesus is and using that as a foundation for life has not once, not ever, let me down.
Yes, I’ve had problems like anyone else. No, I am not perfect. I don’t have all the money in the world, I sometimes get ill, and my family can tell you the many ways I can fall short.
But my King, Jesus, has never let me down. The most important way to explain that is I have hope.
I have hope, that when I die, whenever that is, I will be in eternity with Christ.
Again, I hear some murmurs. “This guy’s a religious nut.” Go ahead. I don’t mind.
Because I am NOT into religion. Religion is a system, a set of rules, a blueprint. What I do have is a relationship, a longstanding relationship in which the Creator of all things calls me friend - even when I treat that relationship poorly, which, sadly I can do from time to time. There’s nothing nuts about that.
As I was pondering the unrest in the world and wondered “what if this really is the end?”, my thoughts naturally turned to the many people I know - some of whom are reading this now - who do not have this relationship with my King.
You may know about Him. You may wonder what all the fuss is about. But if you turn the pages of the Bible you will see the remarkable fact that only one figure in history can plausibly claim to be God’s Son. Not long after His resurrection, His closest followers asserted that He is alive.
Would one person lie about that for the rest of his life? Maybe. Would all the remaining 11 repeat the same lie until their dying breath? Impossible. If it was untrue, someone, probably all of them, would have cracked and recanted.
In fact, until they saw the resurrected Christ themselves, the remaining 11 apostles cowered in their homes probably polishing their resumes to return to their lives as fisherman and tax collectors. So it took the miracle of resurrection for these men to die horrible, bloody deaths stating to the very end that Jesus did rise from the dead, proving His claim to be God’s Son.
Why does that matter now? Because even if this conflict in Israel lasts a short while and life moves along, the day will come for each of us when we take our last breath and have to appear before that King.
And if you reject Him now, you have made your choice. He will not force anyone who does not love Him to spend eternity with Him. You will go elsewhere, and that is not a good place. At all.
I think of people I know and love dearly, some as close as a brother, and my heart breaks because I want us to be there together.
If today’s events make you think about that a little bit more, than there may be some good that comes of war.
And if you’re at war with God and His Son, it’s not to late to make peace. (An appeal......from the heart).
Nice post