We could be in the last days - the end of all things. Or, we might not be. I am sure the Bible does teach that there will come a “last day”. There have been and will continue to be many warnings and signs that will tell everyone on the face of this planet to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ. I also believe that there will be a day when an event called “the rapture” will happen. This will result in possibly a billion people vanishing form earth. After this event takes place, there will be only 7 years left until Jesus physically returns to the earth and begins to be the greatest world leader there ever was or will be. I know that there will be people reading this blog who have a different perspective than I do regarding these end time events. That’s fine with me. I could be wrong about my position and you might be right. It will all pan out at the end.

            The point of this blog entry is not to discuss end time theology, but to begin asking this question: In these turbulent times, what should Christians be like? Whether you believe in the so-called pre-tribulation rapture camp or not, this is an important question to ask and answer. I think the Bible gives us the answer.

            In two places in the gospel of Matthew (9:13 & 12:7), Jesus makes this statement in response to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day. Jesus says, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” I think this is a powerful statement. In addressing this to the Pharisees, I believe the message they heard and the one we need to hear is that receiving and giving mercy is more important than the formalism that can be religion.

            Don’t just take my word on it. When Jesus makes this statement, He is quoting from the Old Testament prophet Hosea. It is recorded in Hosea 6:6. The full quote is this, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” The acknowledgment of God here refers to an “intimate knowing” of God. Wow, doesn’t this shine a different light on how we should think about our Christianity. We should be more focused on knowing Jesus more intimately than in focusing on performing our religion better.

            During the turbulent times that are probably ahead of us, do you want to trust in your formalized religion that you are learning to live with or do you want to trust in the knowledge that you know Jesus and, more importantly perhaps, are known by Jesus.

Keep the faith

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.