~By: Lindsey Whitmore~
“A time is coming.” These four words in the Bible have been continually playing in my mind. In the Old Testament, it was for the preparation of the coming King, Christ Jesus, the world’s Savior. In the New Testament, it is for the coming Kingdom of God and judgment and redemption known as ‘last days.’ We are living in a time coming. This is a time when God’s people are waiting, again, for Jesus to appear, but this time as Judge and Vindicator. What I feel welling up inside of me to write about is what we can expect and what we should be doing during this time of waiting.
In John 4:23, Jesus speaks to the Samaritan, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” Jesus goes on to tell us in John 5:25, “Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live."
Along with these two wonderful passages, we have to also be aware that a time is coming and has now come where people will go towards what their itching ears want to hear. They will not listen to sound truth, but instead they will go where their fleshly desires take them (2 Timothy 4:3).
A time is coming and has now come where mothers are against daughters and fathers are against sons (Luke 12:53), not for the sake of the Good News, but because of unforgiveness, self-righteousness, ego, pride, arrogance, and deceit.
A time is coming and has now come where people will be out for themselves and have no regard for their neighbors. The idea of loyalty will no longer be in our vocabulary. What we see in this generation as inconceivable has surpassed ten times over what two generations before thought was inconceivable. History has a way of repeating itself, but many times, the second time is worse than the first.
In the middle of judging Jerusalem, Ezekiel 16:47 states, “You didn’t merely live by their ways and act according to their disgusting practices, but in a very short time you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways." A time is coming and has now come that we have surpassed what God found a great horror to look upon in the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The first sin started in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. They were in perfect relationship with God. They communed with Him, and they spoke to Him openly. God gave man free will at creation, but Satan used it against them. He twisted God’s words and preyed on their hidden desire of being equal with God. They wanted autonomy.
We display this in our everyday lives when we choose to live on our own terms and not by God’s commands. We have become self-governing, which we have categorized as free will. When questioned, we simply shrug it off and hang onto God’s grace that we carry in our wallets like a get-out-of-jail-free card. This distorting of God’s Word, Law, and gifts of mercy and grace has to stop! We have to be people who know the truth, live the truth, and are willing to speak the truth for the sake of the pure Gospel.
What are we, God’s remnant, called, charged, and commissioned to do during this time of waiting? Starting in the Old Testament and all the way through the New Testament, the Bible is filled with instructions about how to guard our hearts and minds from the snares of temptation, pride, gluttony, complacency, greed, and from all out sin, both obvious and hidden. The question then becomes, will we be the ones who obey God or the ones who choose our own way?
As you’re reading, I’m sure you’re thinking, Okay, I get it. So what should we be doing?
Well, starting with Titus 2:11-14, we are told, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Paul goes on to tell us in Ephesians 4:22-24, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
In Romans, we are told the key to living is that we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
2 Peter 1: 3-8 reminds us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Simply stated by Walter Henrichsen in a devotional titled Warnings for a People Not Listening to God, “No one is so wise that he can afford to ignore the will of God.”
May those who read this in its entirety be blessed and refreshed. If you felt convicted, praise God for having a hold on you, and ask Him what your obedience should be. We all are on a journey; might we all choose His paths as we walk in it.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2
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