Planning for the Future

Photo by Hanna Morris on Unsplash
But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, “We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.
-Matthew 11:16-19

If you knew for certain, that in five years the anti-Christ will appear on the world stage to inaugurate 42 months of the most horrific, terrifying, and unyielding persecution of Christians in history, a persecution whose heinous excesses cannot be imagined. After these 42 months, you will witness the Second Coming of Christ and the Final Judgement.

How would you spend those first five years?

Looking towards a future of hardship, most people choose to spend their time finishing off their bucket lists and living for pleasure and for the moment. Yet, when Joseph, in his position as Vizier of Egypt, was faced with seven years of plenty before the arrival of seven years of famine, he spent those first seven years working long and hard with the people of Egypt to ensure their survival during the famine (Genesis 41:28ff).

Why should I work so hard and deny myself what fun I can have, if all that’s left is horrible persecution?

Is the coming persecution all there is? Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, comes after the persecution. He is the Pearl of Great Price and the Treasure hidden in the field (Matthew 13:44-46). Through these parables, Our Lord teaches us how we are to prepare for His return.

During those five years we would spend that time selling all we have to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where our treasures are, there will our hearts be also (Matthew 6:20-21).

 In other words, if we want to shine like the sun with the righteous in the kingdom of Our Father (Matthew 13:43), then we need to take advantage of the remaining time to grow closer and more deeply into our relationships with God. He is the only one who truly knows us, truly loves us, and truly wants to have a relationship with us. God is the only person pursuing us to give us only 
what is best for us. Only God loves us with an infinite tenderness and passion. Only God.

 Thinking through how we would spend those five years before the arrival of the anti-Christ is a great way to prepare for our own deaths. We don’t know, when we will die (Luke 12:16-21) or when Jesus Christ will return (Matthew 24:36-39, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11), but we know we will be present for one or the other. We, then, have no reason to put off laying up our treasures in heaven.

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