The Time Is Now! – 2 Timothy 4:3-5

3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 

4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

– 2 Timothy 4:3-5

The Time Is Now!

The world is looking for answers. To what?  Well, that's a BIG question.  Each person has to answer the specifics to that one for themselves but what it boils down to is: 

What is the meaning of my life? 

Why am I here? 

What's this "life" all about anyway?

People want answers, but the problem is that a lot of them don't want the Truth.  They want something that makes sense to them, allows them to make decisions based on their understanding of things, and if it makes them feel good about themselves, they wrap it up in a package of convenience and call it "spirituality."

Higher inner consciousness, self actualization, life empowerment, chanting, chakras, gurus, yogis, mind-melds, ESP, tarot, spiritualism, wikken, meditation, karma, and on-and-on-and-on the list is almost as long as the imagination is deep.  There seems to be a big push nowadays for people to be "spiritual" and to find whatever the "I'm Ok - You're OK" flavor of the week works, and apply it . . . as long as it doesn't have anything to do with Jesus.

Why is the "spiritual" world so set against and afraid of Jesus?  Of all the "powers" out there, He is the only one that is freely available to all.  The problem (in my opinion), is that it's too easy.  The concept of Grace just doesn't make sense, and that's what really scares people.  People want to be able to achieve. The want to climb the ladder of success.  The want to feel like their efforts and their mastery of something makes them better than the average person.  We are all built that way, and God, in His infinite wisdom, made us that way so that we could survive and prosper here on earth.  The key (and the problem) is that we weren't created just for earth - we were created with eternity in mind.

There isn't anything that we can do to reach a higher level of Jesus-osity.  We can't pray enough, we can't do enough good. We can't buy our way to the top, we can't get enough education, we can't bully our way in, or chant our way out, or "see" our way through. Nothing we can do in our own ability, will get us closer to God.  The only thing we can do is receive.  Open our arms and graciously and humbly accept what Christ has done.  Once that is done, we are all the same in the eyes of the Lord. Billy Graham is as saved as the child who answered the call and recited the Salvation Prayer in Sunday School last week.  Mother Theresa is just as saved as the newest member of the Parking Lot ministry at the local church.  The Pope is just as saved as the prison convert who had nowhere else to turn . . . but to Jesus.

THAT's God's gift to all of us, if we will just accept it, and THAT's what is so difficult for our unsaved friends and loved ones  (the world) to understand. BUT, that doesn't mean that we take our gift of Salvation and hide it way for safe-keeping. No! No! No!

While the gift of Grace is free, and it comes with no conditions, we DO have the responsibility to tell others about the Grace, the Love, the Joy, the Peace, the Forgiveness, the Victory, and the Freedom that comes from our Lord Jesus. Even if people don't want to hear it. Even if they think they have found the answers as a result of scratching their "Itchy Ear" of curiosity. We still have to love them, and tell them, and then leave it up to God to do the rest. 

So even if everyone you know is "Out There," and trying to find their own answers, let's keep our heads, endure the hardships, do the work of evangelists (with Love), and carry out the responsibility we have to tell everyone we can about the Saving Grace of our Lord Jesus!

Prayer

Father thank You for the free gift of Grace that, in Your Love, You have for ALL Your children. I pray that those who are bound by the religions of this earth will forget the itch in their ears and pay attention to the itch in their hearts and turn to You.

Have a great day everyone!

– Richard