A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope,
encouragement and exhortation.
We enjoy
driving down a heavily forested winding mountain road such
as this shortcut our GPS took us through on our trip to
Knoebels Amusement Park last week!
"Perhaps
Today"
Message
summary: For many years I had a small
wooden plaque on my desk that simply
stated, "Perhaps Today". The
apostle Peter warned about scoffers who
will say, "Where is this 'coming' He
promised?" (2 Peter 3:4). The
Apostle John, referring to the hope of
seeing the Lord writes, "Everyone who
has this hope in Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure" (1 John 3:3).
Note: Due to busyness and weariness a podcast was not prepared for this message. "As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately; 'Tell us,' they said, 'when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?'" (Matthew 24:3). "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" (Matthew 24:30,31). One of the great questions of life is "When?" This is certainly true in our personal and family life. If we are going through a trial we wonder, "When will this be over?" Fifteen years ago I had a lengthy physical affliction with several disappointing setbacks. I was confident of God's care but sure didn't have any idea how it was going to work out or when it would finally "be over". Many of you reading this today (really all of you in one way or another) have questions like this in your own life. It may be in regard to a relationship, job, financial situation, physical need and on and on the list goes. But we all have another question of "When?" similar to the one the disciples had in the first daily text. We look at the world around us; the downward spiral of immorality, the increasing tensions among nations, the desperate and diabolical ambitions of many in false religious systems. We consider the Bible promises and prophecies and wonder, like the disciples in our first daily text, "When will this happen?" In high school I first learned about the concept of the rapture and recall, in the zeal and joy of youthful behavior, having "rapture practice" where we would kiddingly jump up, as if we needed to assist Christ in taking us home! By the way, we did this in the hallways of a large public high school, Truman High School in Independence Missouri, where we had a very active campus group affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ. Now in my early sixties I am glad this type of practice and preparation isn't necessary! My knees hurt just too much for it. And I'm afraid my attempt to jump would barely get both of my feet off the ground. In college I used to jump across the hood of Brooksyne's orange Maverick and land on the other side without a great deal of effort. Nearly fifty years have passed and we are still here! There has never been a shortage of those who claim to have the answer to, "When this will happen?" Predictive teachings are titillating, get a following and sell books and cd's. In regard to this matter I find myself needing to keep a focus of God's call on my life and avoiding two tendencies: 1) On the one hand we can get caught up in specific predictions, scenarios and analyses of current events and how they relate to prophecy and the coming of the Lord. I've seen people get so wrapped up in this that their life and ministry gets all out of perspective. Some then become disillusioned when things don't work out as predicted. 2) On the other hand we must not lose the healthy sense of anticipation and expectation at Christ's coming. The apostle Peter warned about scoffers who will say, "Where is this 'coming' He promised?" (2 Peter 3:4). The Apostle John, referring to the hope of seeing the Lord writes, "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). The main thing is to accept and daily serve the Lord. We all face an ending of this earthly existence, whether at our death or at the rapture. We simply don't know when. Let us stay faithful until the day God calls us home!
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily
prayer: Father,
each new day I am led by Your sovereign
will. In the midst of life's winding
trail I can't always see what lies before
me, but step by step You lead me and I
follow. There are so many questions that go
unanswered and events that are beyond my
control. How reassuring it is to
realize that You know all things and no
event, person, or force can thwart Your
overall sovereign plan to bring all things
into divine order. Help me to remain
faithful during the journey and keep my
focus and hope on the soon return of Christ,
in whose name I pray! Amen.
Today's
Suggested
Music and Supplemental Resources
Finally
today;
Last month I
purchased a new computer and have
essentially been using Dropbox to do my
daily work. Yesterday I managed to transfer
all the data from my former computer to the
new one, mostly thousands of photos we have
taken through the years. All three of us
enjoy taking photos so we have a lot. I had
an opportunity to examine some of the old
photos, some which have been on Daily
Encouragement but many others never made it.
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