Wake Up!

It's a little overwhelming to think that you want to change the world. If you concentrate on making a difference in just one person's life, then I guess, slowly you can change the world. I've been reluctant to think about how fast the end times are coming, but it hit me today when I re-read the headline for Contrary Christian....Last Post. Then I started thinking about the news articles that she used to post about events happening around the world. Also, even when we're called to do something different, because we listened and did what we were supposed to do, we made a difference in at least one person's life. Cindy made a difference in mine because her blog was the one that first gave me the courage to speak out.

I think 'we' as 'Americans' can't see past our own nose sometimes. We take so many things for granted and are only grateful when a tragedy occurs. Instead of getting prepared for Jesus coming back, we're on our knees giving thanks. Well, some of us are. Probably most of us just put our hands over our hearts and say, "I'm glad that's not me." It's time for those of us who are sleeping on the job to wake up. The Christians sitting in church every Sunday need to start doing their job. Depending on what church you're going to, if you have to go down to the alter every Sunday because you've been convicted by something you heard in the sermon and then don't get on your knees any during the week because you're under conviction, you might be sleeping on the job. If you're not, I'd love to know your secret because I am still a sinner. I'm not trying to bend anyone out of shape. My goal is to make you think. I am no better than you are, but come on...we've wasted enough time and I can't reach the whole world by myself. If your heart is right with God, then what are we waiting on?

Sometimes we assume what someone else's expectations of us are and then decide that we are not good enough. If we didn't live to try to impress somebody, we would have no reason for doing anything good. If we assume what someone wants from us, then depending on how bad we want to impress them, we may go our whole lives falling short of their expectations before we finally give up or die trying. When we live for man, we live for money because the only thing that impresses man is money. When we live for God, it shouldn't matter what man thinks of us because they're not the ones we are trying to impress. I've learned that if I've messed up in front of a believer and have been called on it, all you have to do is be honest and admit your mistake. True believers are forgiving. If they aren't forgiving, then call them on it. Ask them why they won't forgive you. It is our duty to each other to love one another, as well as correct and encourage. And yes, I have the scripture on it...just give me a second to find it. Hey, if they get bent out of shape, then show them this scripture:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in the view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine, Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all duties of your ministry.

- 2 Timothy 4:1-5

With every generation our world gets just a little bit worse. Instead of it seeming like every 10 years something happens, it's more like every couple of months something really tragic happens. Hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, bombings and wars are all over the news. I know that thanks to the world of media we're made aware of all the bad things happening all over the world. We can only imagine what the news is not telling us because they have to pick the stories that are going to get ratings and sell advertising spots. It's hard to imagine that they had a huge variety to pick from when deciding. The news media has been around long enough now that it just seems to have gone from bad to worse. Hmmm...labor pains? Have we not already read for ourselves in history how things were so horrible and somebody great came and saved the day?

There's lots of conspiracy theories, but if we just fall somewhere in between totally naive and total conspiracy nut, would that not be where normal would be? That's still a place where many people want to stick their heads in the sand for the sake of disrupting their "ideal life." I can't imagine why some people would even want to hold onto their idea of an "ideal life" and just accept what they have. Look at what we have that's been going to waste because we've been blind and didn't see what we had all along.

Why are we persecuting ourselves? The day will be here soon enough when we really will be martyrs for our faith. Are we trying to live up to what God truly expects of us or someone else's idea of what God expects from us?