Question:
Here is a good one. I need advise. Early in my life I was very self reliant. As of a couple of years ago I came to understand that I would not make it any further without Jesus Christ in my life and a true relationship with the Heavenly Father. My conflict concerns the end times. I will not dispute that those times are close, but honestly none of us knows the date and time. For all we know it could be 100 years from now or maybe tomorrow. To think about the day when Jesus comes back is scary, by scary I mean that it will be such an awesome sight it will take your breath away. But the fact is, I do not worry about it. This is where I have a problem. My Wife and Mother in Law plan around it. I realize you need to be prepared, but I thought that had to due with your obedience to God, not whether you should or should not build a house, or plan a vacation. I believe we need to take advantage of the time we have been given. I believe we need to make the most of every day.!
I hope Jesus does come back soon, I can hardly stand to see what is happening on this earth. The Devil is running wild. But I can not stop living on this earth until I die or the good Lord comes back to take us home. My observation is this, some people ware the end times around their necks like a bad curse, should we not remain optimistic even if we knew for sure that tomorrow was the last day?
Answer:
Glad to hear that you have received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior!
You are correct in that none of us knows when the Lord is going to return. Matthew 24:44 says, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
You are also correct in that we should not sit around worrying about the Lord’s coming, but that we should be busy serving Him. The next two verses after the one listed above say, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” It clearly says that we should be busy serving the Lord until He comes, or until we go to meet him through death’s door.
After the Lord used Paul to write I Thessalonians, some false teaching went around amongst those people about the Lord’s coming, so the Lord had Paul quickly write II Thessalonians. It seems that some of the people there had even quit working, because they thought that the Lord’s return was so close. So the Lord had Paul write to them, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into THE PATIENT WAITING FOR CHRIST. Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that IF ANY WOULD NOT WORK, NEITHER SHOULD HE EAT. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.” (II Thessalonians 3:5-12). The point is that we do not know when the Lord is going to return, so we should be busy serving Him and fulfilling our responsibilities until He does come.
There is no sin in taking a vacation — just take some Gospel Tracts with you and spread them wherever you go. The Lord knows that we all need some rest. Jesus told the disciples, “And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, COME YE YOURSELVES APART INTO A DESERT PLACE, AND REST A WHILE: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.” (Mark 6:30-32).
There is no sin in building a house, if God so leads. Just make sure that He is the center of your home. Psalm 127:1 says, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”
That is the answer — we should be patiently waiting for the Lord’s return by faithfully serving Him each and every day. I Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”