Let’s Fulfill Our Mission before Time Expires    

Recently we took one of our grandsons with us to a church conference in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. During some free time for enjoying the local attractions, we, along with the teenage kids of another pastor, tackled one of those escape room adventures. The six of us had one hour to solve puzzles, follow clues, and accomplish our appointed mission in order to get out of our locked chamber. It took us all working together, sometimes rather feverishly, to try to reach the goal. I’m glad to report that with only eighteen seconds left on the clock we finished the task and made our escape.

Sometimes it feels like we’re facing a similar countdown in today’s world.  God’s clock seems to be speedily ticking toward some kind of climatic event or conclusion. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that the world is going to end at any moment or declaring with certainty that Jesus will be returning tomorrow. However, when you look at what the Bible says about the last days and the signs of Christ’s return drawing near, it does seem like everything is rapidly falling into place in preparation for God’s judgment and Christ coming to take His people home.

As I was watching the morning news one day last week, it struck me how the headlines seemed like they were being taken from some movie depicting divine judgment and the condition of the world in the last days. The main stories involved a severe drought, terrible wildfires, devastating floods, the continuing pandemic, and even a plague of grasshoppers. It sounded like the fulfillment of some Old Testament prophecies about the coming Day of the Lord. Yet those are the times in which we’re living today. And unfortunately, very few people seem to interpret any of these events as reasons for us to repent and submit to God.

  Some of us recognize the signs, but simply acknowledge the fact that Jesus is coming soon and focus on waiting expectantly for Him to rapture us out of this world before final judgment falls. However, I don’t believe that’s the attitude the Lord wants us to have in these times. It’s like our experience in the escape room. We didn’t just sit there waiting for the time to run out and someone to open the door. We had work to do. We had a mission to accomplish before it was too late. There was a sense of urgency as we labored to finish the task before us.

Do we have that sense of urgency as followers of Christ today? This isn’t the time to isolate ourselves, hide in the corners of our churches, and wait for Jesus to provide our way of escape. It’s not the time to throw up our hands in despair and give up or quit trying. Neither is it the time to just angrily condemn the evil around us and leave the ungodly to face the consequences of their poor choices. We’ve got work to do! We have a wonderful message about God’s love, Christ’s sacrifice, the provision for forgiveness of sins, and divine enablement to be a holy people to share with a lost world. We have lives to touch for Christ as He empowers us to be lights in the darkness and Christlike examples in an ungodly society. We are called to uphold truth and God’s Word in the midst of a culture that is rejecting it. We need to be praying, witnessing, and serving with a sense that time is quickly running out.

 The clock is ticking. We don’t know how much time is left. Let’s be busy accomplishing our mission for Christ.