When Life Feels Unsettled
It has been said jokingly that, The only people who like change are babies and bankers. Change is hard and something we can all agree on is that our world is changing, our country is changing, and our community is changing. While we may or may not like the changes that are swirling about us, in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus warned that the world will go through some major changes as His imminent return approaches. He wants us to remember that believers who persevere and keep serving Him will be able to handle whatever life throws at them. Jesus taught that when life feels unsettled, He is still in control.
The conversation recorded in Matthew 24 began while Jesus’ disciples were marveling at the magnificent buildings that were present in Jerusalem, especially the Temple. Jesus bluntly told His disciples that the world was going to undergo some massive changes before His return. He pointed to the Temple in Jerusalem which was constructed with some of the largest stones in the world and said, “Not a stone upon another will not be thrown down.” How about that for encouragement? Jesus in essence was saying, The building you cherish as the center of your religious life will be destroyed. This would have no doubt been unsettling and confusing for them.
Jesus went on to explain to His disciples that as time comes closer to His imminent return, things will feel pretty lousy on earth. In verses 24:3-7, He said there will be people who claim to be messengers of Jesus but will be frauds. He said that there will even be people who claim to be our savior. He warned that there would be “wars and rumors of wars…famines, earthquakes, nations will rise against nations, kingdom against kingdom...” The picture Jesus painted was the future of world history and the beginning of His ultimate return to judge and restore the world.
As Jesus sat with those disciples, He did not leave them without hope – He did just the opposite. He wanted to fill them, and all His future followers (like you and me), with wonderful hope that can overcome the worst of times. He said, “See to it that you are not alarmed (or shocked) by this, it has to take place, but the end is not yet.” He went on to describe this as the beginning of birth pangs, like the tremors that wreck a woman’s body as she is preparing for birth. From my humble perspective, watching Ally go through it three times, it hurts…it hurts a lot. But there are good things ahead. But the good gift of life will come through a temporary time of great pain.
Jesus went on to describe this pain: “9 Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24: 9-12) Okay, so that type of change does not sound positive to any of us, and it will be a very, very difficult time. True believers, prior to the rapture, will need to do what Dr. David Jeremiah reminds us, “Determine to stand for truth, draw support from one another, and derive your security from the Lord…as long as we’re in this world, God intends to use us. Our work isn’t over until He takes us home.” That is the perspective that we all ought to have…like the parents anticipating the birth of a child, this pain is temporary, but the end result is amazing.
Jesus said that we must not give up, and we do that by staying busy with the right things: “13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:13-14) It was a temptation, as persecution increased for believers in the early Church, to run and hide, to give up and to hunker down. But Jesus was challenging us to remember that even amidst great persecution, the church has an essential mission to continue to share the love of Christ to a world that desperately needs it.
When life feels unsettled, we need to remind ourselves that we can take heart because He has overcome the world! (John 16:33) And that a new, abundant life is on the horizon for those who follow Jesus.
Expectantly,
Shawn
P.S. Please join me in praying for Cindy and John Phillips and their family as they mourn the loss of Cindy's father, Terry Hefner, last weekend. Read his obituary here.
