Lori Stanley Roeleveld's Blog

One Brave Pastor We’re Going to Disappoint Each Other

Disaster, Disease, and the Dow – Is this the End? It May Be.

Of course, we’re asking the question.

I mean, some of us are too sophisticated to ask it aloud. It’s not like this is our first round of natural disasters, viral pandemics, and societal upheaval. Seriously, we survived the sixties, Vietnam, H1N1, 9/11 and it’s not like we’re in the midst of WWI or II.

We’re not chicken little believers running in circles shouting that the sky is falling. I mean, these are bad times but the end? The end? Let’s just all get a grip and put our times in perspective, right?

There have been plenty of periods when disaster and disease prevailed but now, we have global communication, so we’re just more aware of it, aren’t we? That’s what this is. Everyone just exhale and go about your business.

But wait.

Have we been going about our business? Maybe we have. But we’re supposed to be going about our Father’s business. What about that?

In Matthew 24, we have Jesus’ words about signs of the “end.” Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes. Famines. Increased lawlessness. Hatred. Betrayal. People’s love will grow cold. The beginning of birth pangs. Early labor for the end.

And He does, indeed, issue a warning not to panic. “Don’t be alarmed.” He says.

But, He doesn’t say not to act.

In fact, the rest of Matthew 24 isn’t a warning to those who don’t believe. It’s a warning to us not to fall asleep in our service to Christ!

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.”

“But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The early birth pangs aren’t a wake-up call for unbelievers but for the followers of Jesus. They’re a reminder to be about our Father’s business without delay.

Stop waiting for tomorrow to speak truth about Jesus. Stop waiting for next month to be in God’s Word, to pray, to serve our neighbors. Stop distracting with endless apps and streaming services and consider how to make the most of the days we have.

Because when the time comes, there will not be time. “Like a thief in the night” isn’t hyperbole – it’s our Lord’s warning that it’s too late to install a security system when the intruder has already arrived.

There is something more dangerous at work in our times than disaster, disease, and the fluctuating Dow – it’s deception.

There is now rampant global deception and God’s people have the vaccine against it – God’s truth. Does it make sense to hoard it, to withhold it, to hide it and only speak it to ourselves?

Yes, we can’t control how others respond and many will ignore what we say.

Yes, we are secure in Christ and He will forgive us and receive us because of His work on the cross, not because of our deeds, so we do not need to fear. In fact, it’s not fear of failing our Father that should motivate us.

It’s love. It’s that ember of love that hasn’t yet cooled that should spark us to act on behalf of those who still don’t embrace the truth. Love for Jesus. His love for those around us. His expansive, reckless, generous, endless love for us.

Jesus left the comforts of heaven to become one of us, to speak truth to people who reject Him, to suffer, and die because His Father so loved the world.

And while we may share in His suffering if we do the same work, we will also share in His resurrection to new life so what do we have to lose by speaking out when it matters most?

Yes, loved ones. These are the times about which Jesus spoke.

Now is the time we have to be about our Father’s business which is delivering love and speaking truth.