The end of the world. Or not.

Recently Kris Vallotton gave his take on the "end times," inviting others to add or respond to his list.

Kris' invitation motivated me to revisit the subject of eschatology. What follows are my own thoughts:

1. God knows the exact end time, so I don't have to. 

2. There's a good reason that God took that pressure off me. There's enough to consider in everyday life without wondering when the world is going to end. 

3. My relationship with God should drive how I act and respond to life, not what I happen to believe about the timeline for earth's demise. 

4. If the exact date of the end of the world were so important, then God would have revealed it to us and not relied on a human being's interpretation. (There's a reason why every doom's day cult has ended very badly.)

5. We human beings can easily get side-tracked into considering things that ultimately aren't of much consequence.

To sum up, I think the point to consider isn't when will the world end, but where will we be spending eternity once our own life is over.

Isn't that what truly matters?

The world may have been around for millions of years. It could go on for another million. 

Or not. I have no clue as to how many years are left for planet earth.

But I do know that at some point my own life will end. And being 63 years of age, I know, from a normal human lifespan, most likely I will be gone from this earth before another 30 years have passed.

That is sobering, but it doesn't frighten me.

If I'm honest about it, facing my own inevitable death frees me up to concentrate on making the best use of what little time I have left.

I find that liberating and challenging as life becomes an adventure.

Followers of God's Son are in a perfect position to offer hope, regardless of when the world might end. 

Followers of God's Son offer hope by their on-going involvement in acts of social justice (like feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, aiding refugees, advocating for worldwide education of girls, etc).  

Ultimately, isn't that what being about the Father's business is all about?

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