Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:32 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door." Many people scoff at those of us with a certainty that the Lord is moving among people and kingdoms preparing the world we know for His imminent return. There are so many headlines as well as buried stories that support this belief, but what if there were not?
Many say that it has been said for generations that the Lord is "coming back in our generation". So why would we believe it now? Every previous generation has been wrong.
What if I am wrong?
What would be the result?
I wonder... did Paul meet Jesus in heaven and say, "Wait a minute! You were supposed to come back BEFORE I died!" Did he think his life wasted that he was "wrong" about the timing?
I think our predisposition to thinking He will not return in our lifetime is the open gateway that we walk through toward a life of lazy Christianity, a sloppy walk, licentiousness. Will my life be wasted if I spend it believing that He could return before I die? Or will my down-to-the-core belief that He could return in my lifetime, or my children's lifetime, change the way I live, the way I act, the way I love and follow Him? Will it give me the courage and the hope to model my life after Jesus the Revolutionary? After Paul the Unapologetic Evangelist?
If those be the results of my belief, then I would die unashamed of being wrong and having lived fully for Him. Before everything I do I want to think "If Jesus returns while I'm doing this will I be ashamed? WHEN He returns will I be ashamed of how I spent my time? money? gifts?"
Thinking like this on a daily basis is hard. I don't live like this. Not all the time. But I want to, and I am praying that the Lord will change my heart in such a way that to live like this every day would be natural. And I trust that He is doing that.
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