The world is not a waiting room - By Angela Van Dinter
I have to admit, I never thought that I would live through times like this. Where I would not be able to leave my house for months on end or where I would feel like simply going into a supermarket would put my life in danger. Of course there are many more uncertainties the last year has brought. This is not just the lockdown. I have always been a law abiding citizen and would never dream of breaking the law. Where as now there are times when even walking out of my door is illegal.
Furthermore, I have always thought that I live in a free country where our opinions were both valid and respected, no matter whether they were the status quo or not. I thought that we were all welcome to post whatever we wanted on Facebook. However in the last year I have seen Facebook and other social medias censoring people's opinions when they have not matched up to the status quo. People who have been outspoken about such things as the vaccine and those using words like plandemic have been literally silenced.
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Whether Jesus is coming back tomorrow or next century, despite what we keep hearing none of us know the hour or day that Jesus is coming back. I mean not even Jesus knows when He comes back, so that means you nor I nor any prophet knows when even Jesus the son doesn't know.
At the same time as having our bags packed or oils lit as in be saved and be as close to Jesus as possible, should we not consider the following. As I put to a bunch of young people today shouldn't we love and endeavour to fall in love with Jesus more and more each day anyway no matter when he is coming back.
Thinking about my own marriage relationship with Reggie. Currently as I write this and he keeps telling me to go to bed by text, he is in The Netherlands on family business. Now, if I waited to talk to him or build on our relationship just before he was coming back or I only sorted the house out just before he was coming back or I made sure I was just about in or I stopped misbehaving (whatever that would be) just before he got back, that would mean I didn't really care about him, I didn't value our relationship or value our home. I get the sense that a lot of Christians have this mentality when it comes to getting themselves sorted just in case he is coming back tomorrow.
I would assert it doesn't matter when he is coming back, be it next week or next millennium, lets fall in love with Jesus more and more each day and lets tend to the garden he has left us in charge of.
I hear a lot about the end time harvest but again, we need to be telling people about Jesus because once again, whether Jesus comes tomorrow or later, there are people who are going to hell every day and we need to be doing all that we can to see them saved and brought into the kingdom and relationship with Jesus.
It seems to me very selfish to say; well, I'm ready to get on the train to heaven and blow to everyone else on earth, that shows the world nothing about God's love. Similarly to have the same attitude about God's world says that we care nothing for him either.
The world is not just a waiting room. True, it may not be the fulfilment of our destination. I'm reading a book at the moment about different dimensions. The reality that we see now is simply one dimension. There are many others of which the spiritual is another. The Bible does say that we only see in part so perhaps this is what 1 Cor 13:9 is referring too. There is definitely more, but rather than screwing up the beautiful world that the Lord has given us even with it's flaws, remember in Genesis 1:26 we were told to have dominion or to be stewards over the earth or my version Genesis 1:26 says rule in the NIV which I really like. It is not very noble for a king or royalty to jump ship even though ironically we have seen exactly this recently with Megan and Harry, but that is another blog.
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
Genesis 1:26
Rather than just sitting in a waiting room waiting for the train, lets be ambassadors of Jesus's kingdom whilst we are here bringing his rule and reign. This is not just reserved for the few, this is all of our calling. But sadly many of us are selfish and we sit with our bags packed in a waiting room when outside things are going darker, because there are many in the body of Christ who are selfish only thinking about their own salvation. The world will get darker if we, his chosen ones, a royal priesthood and holy nation do not shine like stars in the universe like we are supposed to.
"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world." Philippians 2:15
"But you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light."
The bible does not negate that the world can be at times a very dark place it can be crooked and perverse. However, we as the church need to be a holy nation. We need to be that Royal priesthood basically we continue to be ambassadors and those that Rule on the earth.
I am not saying that we should not look forward to Jesus coming back or that we shouldn't look forward to being with Jesus in heaven and eternity. Nonetheless there is a great deal to be done here and even in Ephesians Paul uses Military language to talk about the Spiritual battle which we are in. Which we can read about in Ephesians 6 where Paul talks on putting on the full armour of God.
So I want to invite you out of the Waiting room, yeah it can be a little scary out there, but your love for Jesus and the mandate he has given us to rule on the earth and to flood the earth with the glory of God.
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."
As we are the body of Christ, He plans to flood the earth through us and then there is where Jesus tells us that we are to go and make disciples of all nations. Wow! we have the call to disciple nations and that means as well to disciple all spheres of influence otherwise known as the 7 mountains of influence. Which we will talk about in another blog another time. Something very close to our hearts and I believe very biblical and next time I will go further into this.
Let me end with this verse we cannot be fulfilling the command Jesus gave us below if we have been sitting in a waiting room as our mentality. Furthermore may I put forward that this is one of the reasons that so many Christians get bored with being a Christian or even bored with their lives. Personally, I cannot understand how you can be bored when you realise you are here to rule, be ambassadors and build this beautiful kingdom of God.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold; I am with you always to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20
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