The Second Coming (a.k.a. Rapture), The "Social Gospel," etc.
Feb 19 '06
The Bottom Line Are we living in the last days? If we are, what are we supposed to be doing with our lives? And what if we aren't living in the last days?
This writing is the fourth part of a series I've started. Below are links to the first three writings...
WHY!?!
A Tribute To Miriam "Micky" Waltch
Contemporary Music For A Better World
The following is part of a letter I wrote to an e-pal.
Before I'd finished writing it, I knew that it would be an excellent addition to my series...
Nobody knows the hour when Jesus will return. In my own lifetime, I've seen dates set and those days pass. At one time, Pat Boone didn't believe that our current age would last past the end of the 1970s. But it has.
What message does this send? Does it send a message that Jesus has forgotten about us?
Not a chance!
But it does send a message that we shouldn't be spending too much time date-setting to the point that it takes us away from our current duties as caretakers.
If I knew that the end of our current age wouldn't come for the next ten-thousand years, I would still be introducing people to Jesus. The field has always been ripe for harvest.
Jesus wants us to tell people about Him, but He wants us to also keep involved in what is often called "the social Gospel." Some people have gotten to the place where they think of "the social Gospel" as being liberal psychobabble--however, it's anything BUT that! It's old-fashioned and straight-from-the-Bible!
I'm referring to reaching out to "the least of these"--which Jesus says is the same as doing something nice for Him.
We're living a temporary life on a temporary planet, but we can only make wild guesses about when we'll be moving.
We could be taken away from here at the end of the present age (which could happen in the twinkling of an eye in the very next second or two or else happen sometime before we have had the chance to taste death--a year from now, a decade from now, 25 years from now, whenever). or One or both of us could die within the next 24 hours from either natural causes, being murdered, or being in some kind of accident. or One or both of us could grow up to be little old ladies and pass on in some way--and history might finish a day or two later, a generation or two later, or a number of centuries/millenniums after that.
But, for now, this is where we are. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's not supposed to be. At times, it's downright nasty. Yet, even on this imperfect planet where you and I are just passing through, I see so many signs that God has never forsaken us.
Just look at the beauty of nature. Even in the ugly parts of nature such as hurricanes, there's the potential for beauty in how people pull together to help each other out.
Yes, there's ugliness, too, when people aren't tuned into God and respond to disasters in negative and self-centered ways.
But we're given a chance to make a choice re: how we're going to deal with life when it turns sour.
But let's just suppose for a moment that not only will we live out the rest of our mortal lives on the third rock from the sun but, also, that many generations will be born and grow up after we've passed on.
In that case, this planet is going to be "it" for a lot of generations yet unborn. It will continue to be the classroom of humanity.
Think about how a school in a run-down neighborhood is allowed to deteriorate because it's been predicted that either a lot of money is going to be pumped into the area where the school will be torn down and replaced with a new one or else everybody is going to get out of the neighborhood before long, so why invest in a school that will only be used for a few more years.
Yet, the neighborhood remains, and so does the school--which has now deteriorated worse than ever.
On a larger scale, something like this happens when we spend more of our time looking towards the skies for our ride out of here than we do making Classroom Earth as decent as possible while we're here.
We become like the man who buried his talent in the ground and sat on it waiting for his employer to return while the other two men took the talents with which they were trusted and invested them.
Until that time when Jesus tells us its time to leave, we need to be making Classroom Earth as pleasant of a place as we can for both ourselves and the rest of the student body--and, when we look at each one of our classmates, we need to look carefully enough to see Jesus in them, even when they aren't reflecting Jesus, because they're still among "the least of these" and are to be given value in the scheme of things, just as Jesus is.
The more we extend a hand instead of pointing a finger and the more we look at what needs to be done instead of ignoring it and pretending it will go away, the more we will become like mirrors reflecting Jesus in a way that's beautiful and attractive.
There's this story I heard about some people who lived back in the early years of our country.
One afternoon, something very strange happened.
The sun's light was hidden and the world became very dark.
I don't know if this were something that happened in all of the places where it was daylight or if it were just a local thing.
However--with no TV, radio, Internet, or even a telephone or telegraph being available--this seemed like a worldwide event to the people of that village.
At the time this happened, a meeting of the local government was going on.
The men grew very concerned--even frightened--and said that the end of the world was about to happen, so the meeting should adjourn so that everybody could go home and be with their families.
One of the men there responded with something on the order of, "Maybe, this is the end of the world today or, maybe, it isn't. Either way, when my Lord returns, I want Him to find me at my appointed post."
I think what that man said back then reflects my own point-of-view.
That's why I not only see no conflict with "the social Gospel" and Christianity but, also, see things such as Habitat For Humanity, The Red Cross, The Salvation Army, www.tookie.com, YMCA/YWCA, Girls & Boys Club, etc. local projects, and individual good deeds to improve lives, the environment, etc. as a very important part of fulfilling our charge as caretakers.
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