A Slower Pace

A fellow at work and I had an interesting conversation that caused me to take a step back, pause and think about an issue within the church. It relates around end times prophecy.

There are many who preach on end times prophecy. It is a popular topic that tends to garner lots of attention. From Nostradamus to the book series “Left Behind” to the movie “2012”, there are many opinions of how, what, and when the world will end as well as many different people preaching many different things. Some are based on scripture, others not so much. But it seems that no matter what perspective you are taking – Biblical or secular – we all want to know the future and what is going to happen in the end.

Now some of these answers are, indeed, in scripture. The book of Revelation is probably the most common resource people look to for answers. And because of its figurative and metaphorical writing, it is very challenging to get a clear picture on the end times. However, there are a few other books in the Bible that hint at future occurrences. The books of Daniel and Ezekiel, for example, have a few nuggets that point to some possible end times events. The Gospel of Mark in chapter 24 also has some insight. But overall, there are as many interpretations of the end times, as there are translations of the Bible.

But I am here to pose a totally different “end times” prophecy perspective. IT DOESN’T MATTER!!!!! Matthew 24:36 says “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

Because even Jesus doesn’t know when He will return, any time spent by us trying to figure that out is in vain. Additionally, in Mark 12:29-31, Jesus boiled down all the commandments, in essence the entire Old Testament, to two orders – love God and love your neighbor. Done! Simple, easy, effective.

We should not be wasting our time “preparing for the end”. We should be loving, praising and worshiping God and then we should be loving our neighbor – serving, helping, giving and sacrificing ourselves for others. In fact, if we are doing all that, we will, indeed, be preparing for the end times!

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net