Complacent Christianity in the Last Days of the Church
by Joel Krooswyk
Chapter Six
- In the Last Days -
In the movie The Devil's Advocate, the actor who plays the Devil says a line that should make a Christian think. Towards the end of the movie, the actor says something to the effect of, "Who can deny that the twentieth century belonged to me?" When I heard that, I started thinking about the possible truth in that statement. Satan will reign victorious in the time period directly before Christ comes again to claim His own. Could the 21st century be that time period? We don't know. I am in no way suggesting you watch that movie, but it makes a valid point nonetheless.
This brings me to the last thing I want to tell you. It concerns the amount of time we have to clean up our act and get the word out! We are surely living in the last days. I'm not predicting the end of the world or anything like that. After all, Jesus made it very clear that none of us will know when He will come again.
However, have you looked at the book of Revelation lately? Have you read the gospels lately? Have you read the prophecies about the end times? Many have come true already, and many could be fulfilled soon, when you compare them to current world events. Jesus is coming soon! It likely will not happen in my lifetime or in yours, but it just as easily could. Do you really want to place bets and not be ready? Why wait another day to really find out?
In other words, why would you wait even one more day to devote your life in full to the service of God? If Christ returns to earth in judgement tomorrow, will you be ready? Will you be able to tell the mighty Creator of the universe that you have been doing all you can for Him and His kingdom? Will you be headed for heaven?
There is a section in three of the gospels which discusses the "signs of the end of the age". This text can be found in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. Jesus discusses false prophets, false messiahs, natural problems which will occur in the world, a growth of hatred and evil, discrimination against Christians, and many other signs. I and many other Christians around the world see many signs from this text that tell us that we are living close to the end of the age. I'm not going to predict any estimates for the end of the world, as Jesus says we will not know. Besides, I have no idea, and I don't want to know!
The main point I want to make is that we cannot live complacently any longer. We must be alert and awake in case Jesus decides to return to earth tomorrow! We do not know if He will be coming with the sunrise tomorrow. In Matthew 24:42-44, Jesus states that we must be ready. It reads,
"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."
We must be ready for the second coming of our Lord, whenever He decides to come again.
The book of Revelation makes many references to the last days. Though many passages in Revelation are not easily understood without enlightenment from God, we can easily understand many texts within this book.
Right at the beginning of Revelation, in chapter 1 verse 3, we read,
"Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near."
This book talks about the end times and the amazing events that will take place. We are blessed as Christians if we read this book and understand its message. The last five words are what I want to draw attention to though.
The last five words, "because the time is near", give us a reason to want to understand these words. They give us a reason to search out understanding of the things this book tells us. The time of the second coming is what is referred to here, and we need to be ready. Let's look at some other passages of Revelation that will encourage us to rid our lives of complacency sooner than later.
In Revelation 12:12, we find one of the reasons we may are driven to complacency in the first place, as well as the reason we are tempted to stay in the complacent lifestyle. It reads,
"...But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
The devil is driven to fury because his time is short. He is furiously fighting to keep us from living as Christ. He knows he has precious little time. Shouldn't we realize the same thing? Our lives are extremely short when compared with eternity. As Christians, we can't read a text like this without seeing the importance of time. If the devil knows how short his time is, how much more should we realize the short time we have as precious time we can be walking with the Lord!
Later in chapter 12, we read that we as Christians are actually the primary targets of the devil. He is not only furiously trying to harvest souls for eternal damnation, but he is targeting Christians as his number one enemies. We are constantly in his crosshairs. This angers and frightens me. A powerful devil and his army of demons is furiously fighting to keep me from knowing God. Verse 17 reads,
"Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring - those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."
The dragon obviously is an image of the devil. The woman is about to give birth. I see this as the birth of the millennial reign of Jesus. The devil is out-smarted by the woman in this story, and the devil is "enraged".
There are two important underlying pieces in this passage though. I already mentioned that the devil is targeting you and I as Christians. He is waging war against us every day. We need to be aware! We can see the devil in the world around us, but we must make sure he doesn't affect our lives. We must continue to walk firm in Christ, without complacency.
The second important pieces of the passage are the two requirements stated. The text says that those targeted will "obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." I mentioned many things in this book that gel with this statement. We can't believe in Jesus and ignore his law, such as the 10 Commandments. The devil targets true Christians, who acknowledge Jesus every day and do all they can to obey his commands.
One last passage in Revelation I want to point out is the text where we are told that the information in Revelation is credible, and that we must be aware that Jesus is coming again soon. In Revelation 22:6-7 reads,
"...These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
Again, we can learn two important things from the passage. First, we see that is says that these "things must soon take place". The word MUST is what stands out. Jesus is coming again - he must come again. He does not re-negotiate his promises. You can count on Him. He is coming again, and we need to be ready. If we are ready, the book of Revelation tells us that we will be blessed.
The second thing we can learn from this passage comes from the obvious statement that Jesus is coming again soon. The word SOON stands out. We don't have any idea when "soon" is, since God's timetable is not like ours. We need to be ready though, for if Jesus returns tomorrow and we are not ready, we are in eternal trouble.
An incredible percentage of the population of the United States assumes they are headed for heaven. That would be encouraging, but the lack of true faith and the absence of works by these same people tell a different story. Many people are figuring that they have earned their way to heaven by living "pretty good" lives, keeping the 10 Commandments, in general. I have commonly heard statements like this recently: "Well, I haven't killed anyone or stolen anything really, and I'm pretty nice to other people, so I'm a pretty good person." I'm sorry, but God says that won't get you to heaven! Grace alone is the ticket to the kingdom of God.
I encourage you to be absolutely convinced that you are headed for heaven as God's chosen child. Acknowledge your complacency before Him and let Him begin His good work in you. Until that occurs, you can't become a fully devoted follower of God, and His kingdom will prove to be elusive. It will always be just out of reach, no matter what else you do.
If you are convinced that you need to escape your life of complacency, you will no doubt want to work on changing your life as soon as possible. I encourage you to discuss this information and your personal goals with a Christian you know well. Find someone who can help you by adding accountability, if you need it. It's also wise to speak often with a devoted follower, who can help you by adding input from their life and their walk with Christ.
A complacency-free life in Christ is extremely honorable in the eyes of God. Start the work, but make sure you let God finish it. You can't do it alone. You and I are only human, but with the power of God, we can become much more than the sinful, fallen humanity we are when we begin!
You've reached THE END!
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