"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth." Luke 21:34.
It has been an amazing couple of weeks for email to LastDay.info. The most recurrent theme from the writers has been, "I have been so busy I haven't had time to get into the Word like I should."
Let us be honest with one another. It might be all right to say such things in the social clubs we call churches in the U.S., where the normal answer from others is 'I know what you mean.' But, I love you enough to tell you that such admissions should be confessions of sin to one another in humble repentance rather than seeking company in your guilt! Misery truly does love company!
To stray off the path for a moment can have eternal consequences if we are not grounded in the Word of God. We all know of people who use the Bible as a legal document, embellishing the letter of the law while neglecting the spirit of the law. To be lax in searching God's heart in the Bible makes one as guilty as the Pharisee who hits you over the head with 'do this' and 'don't do that!' Jesus told us that our righteousness had better surpass that of the Pharisees! Sadly, many of us criticize the Pharisees among us while neglecting our relationship with God through his Word. "But, I pray," you say. Good! Do you want answers? Go to the Word of God!
The days are coming where we will have to draw on what is written in our hearts alone, for out of the mouth comes the overflow of the heart. If good is stored there then good will come out and if evil is there so too will that come out - no matter how well veiled!
One of the most important things that has happened in my life, second only to repentance and submission to Jesus Christ, was the decision to not open the Bible until I was willing to believe every single word in it. I made this decision with the belief that the Bible is indeed alive and active. It, literally, is God talking to us! Open that book to hear God, not to please God!
Why this mini lesson on searching the Bible? Jesus told us in the verse above to not let the anxieties of this life take over and weigh down our hearts. He said this in many different ways. He told us to be anxious over nothing. He gave us the parable of the four soils to show the dangers of the cares of this world and the consequence of not putting deep roots into your relationship with him. Who was he talking to? Was it unbelievers? No, it was the people who had come to him! He warned us that the day he comes could be like a trap for those who, because of the cares of this life, were caught not watching for him. We could become trapped into suffering wrath with the wicked!
Scoffers will not understand, but these warnings are there to turn you to seeking God alone as refuge in your life. The desolation of Israel is approaching fast and with it Satan's war against the church. Are you ready for it? Are you ready to have the equivalent of thousands of World Trade Center attacks in your life? Jesus alone can see us through, but he insists that we remain in him and then he will remain in us (for the KJV user, the word is abide). Apart from Him we can do nothing. If Jesus Christ was the Word before he was Jesus and he was the Word while on earth and he is the Word in heaven, should he not be the Word in our hearts? That doesn't just mean the indwelling of the Holy Spirit alone, but the hungry searching for every word that comes from the Father through Jesus Christ! What else could produce love for God and the love of God within us and for each other?
We are consumed with serving this world and our desires. In this we make God our enemy. We cannot serve two masters! Do we really understand what Jesus is saying by "seek first the kingdom of God?" The vast majority does not understand this command. Jesus wants us to fix our eyes and focus our entire beings on the kingdom that is to come, the kingdom of the LORD Jesus Christ. Why do you think he says that he who stands firm to the end will be saved? The kingdom is at the end of the race. It is at the end of the race that we are resurrected imperishable. Go the distance, straining towards what lies ahead. Believe the Word, then open it and listen.
The sounds of war are coming, they are just ahead! Draw your sword of truth, see how it glistens and see how sharp it is? Throw away the scabbard. You will not need it again for you shall not put this sword away until it has finished its task of hewing from you the world and its wickedness.
Listen to the Bible and God will guide you in the paths of righteousness.
Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:36.