The End of the World…

Humanity has been obsessed with “The End” ever since there was a “Beginning”. I remember my first brush with “Doomsday Hysteria” in 1988. A best-selling book had the church world prepping for the rapture because someone had found 88 Reasons For Christ’s Return In 1988. ’88 came and went along with leg-warmers, shoulder-pads, parachute pants and no rapture.

Then came the next big world ending event… Y2K. The experts told us that our computers would reset in 2000 bringing down every microchip enabled system on earth. America started prepping for the demise of western civilization at the hands of our own technology. My home church purchased a warehouse and filled it floor to ceiling with water, food and medical supplies – enough to sustain 500 families for three months. Friends and family took their homes off the grid. Dec 31, while people partied like it really was 1999, and fireworks welcomed in 2000… we waited. Jan 1, the sun came up, the lights turned on and my little Motorola still phoned home. Y2K didn’t live up to its hype and a lot of food went to waste.

Many years later here we are again… experts, talking heads, bloggers, nut-jobs, and conspiracy theorist are caught up in our collective expiration date. “End of the World” makes a great headline and sells a lot of paper. There has been hundreds of documented End-of-World Predictions since 0 AD and yet pinning down the last day seems as difficult as pinning down a politician on the facts.

I have no doubt this current “End” craze will come and go just like all those before it. However as it passes, it’s at least worthwhile for each of us to consider a few thoughts.

What if today were your last day? What would you do differently today? Would you make right, previous wrongs? Would you find yourself on your knees asking God for forgiveness? Would you draw close to your loved ones? Would you party like it’s the end of the world? I believe your honest answer to that question speaks volumes about who you truly are at your core. Let it that question “gut check” you.

  If there is something you’d do differently on your last day, than today…why wait? Make the time to do it now! After all, “tomorrow” is a day only found on a fools calendar.

What if you lived everyday as if it’s your last? I don’t worry about the end of the world. Why? Because I found my end in 1996 at the altar of a church outside Charleston, SC. That day, It was the “end of the world as I knew it”. It’s easy to no longer fear the end, when you’ve already come to yours. Jesus lived free from this world because He was not bound to it. Likewise everyone who has surrendered their life to Christ is no longer bound to this world. Because “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2).For the Christ-follower, everyday can be lived as if it were their last because there is no fear of the end. You can make each day count because each day is precious. And one day, when it all does come to an end…we will just then begin!