Wednesday, February 3, 2010

This I Know

Below is the daily Bible reading I am doing for West Side Church of Christ. Feel free to follow along.

I personally do not claim to understand everything Jesus talks about in Scripture. Today’s reading (Matthew 24) is one of those sections. Jesus describes what the end days will be like. For some these days look desperate. Jesus says that wickedness will increase, many will turn away from faith, love will grow cold, it will be dreadful for pregnant women and nursing mothers, nation will rise against nation, famines and earthquakes will take place, people will continue to marry and have children even as the flood waters come, and the list goes on and on. Jesus does not paint a happy picture.

Now some say we are living in that day. I do not know if I can agree or argue with that. I am not an eschatological (end times study) expert. But the picture Jesus paints at the end of this passage does provide comfort.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”

Friends, the end is going to come sometime. What side do you want to be on when it happens? Jesus says it is good for the servant to be doing what is asked of him when that time comes. He also says that those who aren’t will be thrown where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. We can stand confident that when the unknown hour approaches…when those dark days arise…that if we are in Christ, we will be on the side of hope, peace, and salvation.

1 comment:

gregwhite said...

I believe we must examine ourselves daily to see that we are really Christian, really followers and not just people that want to hang around with Jesus.

2 Corinthians 13:4-6 (New International Version)
4For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with him to serve you.

5Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.

John 2:23-25 (New International Version)

23Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.[a] 24But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.


I also believe we don't need to be experts to know that something has been accelerated. Listening to our "leaders" speak and calling good evil and evil good.

54He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. 55And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. 56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?