Skip to main content

The End Is Coming! The End Is Coming! An End Is Here.


 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.(I Peter 4:7-11)

       This weekend marks the unofficial end of summer in America. It's a time of year that I love. The weather is starting to cool down, the leaves are edging their way toward turning the colors of fire, schools and churches are getting active again. This  year again, the end of summer is a stressful time for me. The garden needs to be torn down and things need to be closed down and a household re-established elsewhere.
         Endings and beginnings can be a time of high energy and low intelligence. That's called panic. They can also be high energy and high intelligence. That's called wisdom and that is what Peter is calling us to. Don't get anxious about just how near the end is. It's near. Even if that end is just your life, it's near...nearer than you might want it to be. With that in mind, Peter says, be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. No running around in circles, screaming and pulling out your hair. No crawling into bed and covering up your head. Prayer is needed and Panic 101 and Avoidance 101 techniques don't let you pray.
           How do you keep a clear mind and maintain self-control as things around you spin out of control?
1.  Pray.
2.  Love
3.  Help (offering hospitality even when you aren't at home, because you aren't at home.)
4.  Do what you do well - exercise your gifts
5.  Watch what you say.
6.  Rely on God for strength (which takes you back to #1)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more