End Times?

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.              Mark 13:32

Many of my readers will recall the 1970’s, especially the turmoil around the oil embargo and energy crisis that left many Americans waiting in long lines at the gas pumps. We were restricted sometimes to the number of gallons allowed to be purchased at one visit. Prices went high, and for the first time, many people worried that the world’s oil supply would be depleted.

This spawned a great deal of social, political, and religious unrest. In the evangelical Christian world, authors such as Hal Lindsey, Salem Kirban, Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and others began to write about “end times” prophecy. There was great interest, and not a little anxiety, around the second coming of Jesus. There were predictions of that return, and I recall that there was quite a stir about Jesus returning in 1988 (September, specifically, to coincide with Yom Kippur). That, you see, was the 40^th anniversary of the founding of the modern state of Israel.   

 It struck me then as pretty odd that we spent so much time worrying about end times theology. Today too, there is great interest in eschatology- end times theology- and there are even political discussions based upon a particular theology.   

Jesus said this about the end of times on earth, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. I take that as Jesus saying, “don’t waste your time trying to figure out something you will never know. Just live your life in such a way that, whenever that time comes, you have served your God”.

So, dear readers, you and I do not know when this world will collapse and Jesus will return. Living in the present is the best way to avoid the anxiety of living in the future.

Prayer: Lord, help is to keep the main thing in mind- to love others until whenever the end comes, Amen