What’s happening around the world is downright frightening for many. As the markets gyrate with downward plunges and then partial up-swings, the worries are increasing. Things are happening with such rapidity and global complexity that even the most seasoned analysts are not sure what will happen around the corner – tomorrow.
Governments are intervening at a national level to prop up the financial systems and plug the holes in the dikes but it seems that no sooner have they patched one hole with hundreds of billions of dollars and something else breaks loose. Unprecedented unified global interventions are being orchestrated to slow down the unravelling and demise of world economies.
Your guess is probably much better than mine as to how all of this will shake out. Maybe in twelve months’ time, all the current frenzy will appear as a blip on the screen. A short-lived spike or plunge on graphs. Or things could continue to slide towards a crash or collapse of the economies of the world’s leading nations which will give rise to a restructuring of world powers and economies.
Even if your own future is not financially at risk and you feel somewhat insulated from the pain and fear others are experiencing, uncertainty in the world can definitely lead to personal uneasiness. People are worried about the future and well they might be.
According to the Bible, the darkest days this world has ever known are yet in the future.
People try to laugh off apocalyptic fears. They have seen the movies. They have seen the cults who have prophesied of coming doom that never materialized. They have heard the Biblical warnings of an antichrist who will emerge and dominate the world stage in the end times. But because ‘nothing’ has happened – they cynically mock and say: “I suppose this is the end. 666, the Mark of the Beast and then Armageddon! Ha!Ha!Ha!”
No one knows God’s timetable but God Himself. No Christian or Bible Scholar has any right to say that we are now entering the very last stage and that within so many months or within so many years this or that will happen according to the Bible. But be sure of this: there is nothing to prevent Jesus Christ from returning at any moment.
Are you ready?
In times like these, there are many uncertainties. People fear for their jobs, their financial security, and for their outstanding debts and mortgages. They worry about not only their own future but their children’s future as well. Nothing seems secure. Everything seems so volatile. There seems to be such a hairline between order and chaos; stability and anarchy.
What is your anchor? What security do you have in times like these? Or is your dubious strategy merely to cross your fingers and hope for the best in all spheres of your life? Are you absolutely sure of anything?
No?
Obviously then, you are not a Christian. A Christian has an anchor. A Christian has ‘rest’ in the storms of life. Even though a Christian can lose a job, lose their investments, lose a child, lose a marriage, or lose a home – fundamentally and foundationally they are secure because they can never lose their soul.
A Christian is sure of one thing – eternal life. Heaven. Peace with God. Eternal life is not a thing to hold on to for fear of losing it. Eternal life is not something a person hopes to earn and eventually obtain. Nor is it a prize to be won. Eternal life is offered to you during your lifetime as a free gift. (Romans 6:23) You either accept it or reject it.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may ‘know’ that you HAVE eternal life. 1John 5:12-13
A genuine, authentic Christian is more than a professor. They are possessors because they HAVE – they possess eternal life. They aren’t hoping – they KNOW!
Check out this short Gospel-focused Idioms Video.
A Christian is one who has faced their own helpless condition. They have faced the reality of their sins and the fact that their sins deserve eternal punishment. They have looked away from their own selves for salvation. If they are ever to be rescued from their own sins, it will not come from within – the rescue will come from outside themselves. They have come to grips with that reality. They have discovered that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone and they have rested upon Him for their personal salvation.
The Bible is clear – whoever has (currently possesses) the Son (Jesus Christ) has life. And those who do not have the Son of God do not have eternal life.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. John 1:12
Can you embrace this beautiful promise from God’s Word? Will you receive HIM – Christ as your Saviour?
