Similar?

Picture the scene. There is a disturbance and your life is threatened, so you call the police to step in and stop the gang fight right outside your house. A crowd is gathering to watch and some are stepping in to take a side, and then the police arrive. Only now you realise the police are also dressed like the brawling gangs, so when they try to stop the fighting no one knows who is who, and the criminals escape while the police sort out who is on their side. It’s so much easier when you can tell the lawbreakers from the lawmakers, right? That’s a very good reason for our emergency services wearing a uniform. You know who they are.

Why then do Christians try their best to fit in with the rest of the world and be like them? We try to be one of them, because we don’t want to scare them off we argue. A similar discussion follows with dress code, music, places we go, movies we watch, magazines we read, what we drink, and the list goes on. In the meantime, we see our declining church attendance, and continue to think being the same is the answer, so when one similarity fails, we try to add another, and we find that doesn’t work either.

If you want a different answer, you have to try a different approach. Doing the same thing time and again, gives the same result time and again. The Christian life makes us different on the inside, and so we should be different on the outside too. What will the enquiring, unsaved person think when they look at us, and see a mirror image of themselves? If we are going into the world to fight against the evils of sin, shouldn’t we be seen as different?

We are called to be a sanctified (set apart) people, with an obvious love for the Lord and each other. That means seekers of truth should be able to know where to turn, and who to turn to because they should see Jesus in us. Churches do not need to copy the clubs and pubs in the world with lights, music, and feel good speakers who do it better than us anyway. We should be preaching the gospel of repentance and salvation, not cosying up to people and groups who already may know where the truth lies, but all they can see in us is a shallow form of Christianity. May we never be like the church group mentioned in Matthew 23:27 when Jesus says “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of …….all uncleanness.

Perfect Storm

You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. Matt 24:5-7 NIV

I am no expert on any subject, as anyone who reads my thoughts regularly will know, but something isn’t right ‘out there’ in the big wide world. Do you keep an eye on the news? If so, you will have seen the same things as me. Things like:

The Arab Spring which fades almost as fast as it rises, and in its wake leaves thousands dead or injured.

The monetary crisis in Europe’s Eurozone started by a few financial ‘experts’, but affecting millions of ordinary people.

Global Warming affecting the polar icecaps at a rate never before known, causing tidal changes which in turn affects global temperatures and impacts established climate patterns.

A drop in ethics and morality in the civilised, once Christian western cultures, leading to high crime rates and a generation which is not taught the difference between good and evil, because evil may not exist, and everything is relative. Nothing is absolute, and especially not truth.

Then, at least for me, the biggest one of all is the sabre rattling of North Korea as it thumbs its nose in hatred of the capitalist ‘religious’ western world in general, and the USA in particular. While they posture, and position their long range, possibly nuclear missiles in areas to target enemy nations around the globe, we shiver in fear and disbelief. The chances are, if you are reading this, you are living in a country which is already in the crosshairs of their sights.

Any one of these, taken on its own, would be trouble enough, but when they all happen together you could be forgiven for thinking about that ‘perfect storm’ which in some folk’s minds could spell Armageddon, or is that taking it too far? Prophecy is not my strong point, but the signs are undeniable and plain to see, so could they show a clear and present danger to civilisation as we know it today? If so, what do we do about it? In fact, what can we do about it at our level? Maybe not a lot when we think of the complexity of the world stage.

Jesus has some advice for His followers. He tells us not to be alarmed. Nice one! Jesus tells us not to worry! What, seriously? Does Jesus not know what is happening today? Of course he does, and that makes His advice even more important and relevant. There is nothing we can do to influence world politics, but there is something we can do for ourselves, and that is stop worrying. However, in truth, we can only do that when we are resting fully in the safety of His Salvation and love. We need to get right before a Holy and Just God, stay there, and start to live Christ-like lives as though we mean it. How many warnings would it take for us to do that I wonder? Just asking.

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. 2 Peter 3:9-11 NIV