Comfortable?

As I rode in a van across Nicaragua a dear friend with us said, "I'm not comfortable." That was the mid-90's and we were not Contras, Sandinistas nor CIA, we were missionaries there to spread the gospel of the kingdom. On our way to a prison to hold a service, our beat up Mitsubishi van was packed  with 7 guys, sound equipment and food for the inmates (in the US we bring literature, in Nicaragua we bring FOOD) and it was Nicaraguan HOT! The road was bumpy and the place prone to uprisings and sudden Civil War.

Needless to say the other 6 members looked at him with unbelief, like it even needed to be said. One even yelled, "Stop the van! R's not comfortable!" and made a big scene, in fairly good humor.

We were all uncomfortable!

But our sense of mission overcame our discomfort and even made discomfort a pleasure, for the Gospel's sake.

I believe most Christians in North America, including I, have been rocked to sleep in the comfortable arms of the world around us.

After Jesus had gone to such great pains to pass down to us the info of how this is going to all turn out, are we going to give a collective yawn and sigh when we now think of His imminent return?

That means he could come back while I'm writing this.

His disciples came right out and asked, "When are you coming back, and what will the signs be?"

"Wars, plagues, earthquakes and such." 

"Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold.-Matthew 24:12

Sound familiar, it's what you read in this mornings newspaper, and even if we can focus our prophetically manic minds on those signs we often relegate the end result to Sunday School classes and once a decade sermons.

Christ's imminent return

We need to shake ourselves as Samson did when he woke up bound and blinded in prison.

We need to not only remember the fact, we need to act on it.

Matthew 24:14

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Some unintentionally foolish preachers have failed to parse the word ALL correctly. The Greek word πασ or transliterated into English pas. That part is useless info until you realize it doesn't mean some magic counter to when the last person hears, but instead going to each people group and ALL means some of each.

I said all that to say that there is nothing else that really needs to happen before Jesus pulls us all out of here.

Keeping this close to our hearts, mouths and feet will change how we act.

How we participate in our local church.

How we give to our local church.

How we relate to our neighbors, strangers, family and friends.

How we behave in secret and in public.

Jesus capped it all off with a tightly cinched knot.

But he who endures to the end shall be saved.-Matthew 24:13

Endures means more than hiding in a secure hole with our lounge chair and big screen.

...and then the end will come.- Matthew 24:14

We cannot fit too comfortably into the world around us. We are to be in it, and to be all things to all people(1 Corinthians 9:22), but we cannot be too close without losing the most important things.

Things are LOOKING UP