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2 Timothy 1:6-8: Unashamed

When Christ returns it will be like a thief in the night. The time and hour we don`t know but we do know the end is coming and then some will go off to eternal happiness and some to weeping and gnashing of teeth. To know this is good news, believe it or not.

It is like disaster relief work: I have done a lot of this. A few years ago I helped in the aftermath of a hurricane. The good news is, like natural disasters in general and like when the hurricane struck Galveston Island in particular, was that even though 100 people chose to stay behind and perished, even though those of us who were helping with the relief efforts met, spoke to and prayed with people whose family members chose to reject salvation from the hurricane, people knew it was coming; they had a choice and as a result thousands of people were saved.

Can you imagine if the news announcers were so ashamed of the fact the hurricane was coming that they didn’t share the information? Can you imagine if the meteorologists were so ashamed of the fact that they did not know the exact hour the hurricane was going to strike that they didn’t tell anybody? Can you imagine if your neighbour knew the hurricane was coming and she evacuated but she never told you because she was ashamed that she couldn’t explain exactly what, why, where, how, and when the hurricane was coming? Can you imagine the horror as you look up to see your life being swept away – and no one ever told you how to be saved because they were ashamed?

Well, an eschatological hurricane, ‘the end’, is coming and it is a lot more dangerous than a temporal hurricane. There are people in this city here right now who have no idea that the end is coming. There are people out there right now who are lost and no one is pointing them to salvation.

So let us do that. Today let us be like the rescue workers who go around pointing people to safety. None of us know when our –or anyone else`s- lives are going to end. We may be taken tomorrow. None of us know when the Lord is returning and bringing with him the end to our world. But, like the weatherman watching the storm, we do know that the things of this earth are going to pass away and it is our job to share with everyone we meet the good news of the way to salvation so that they do not need to perish but instead can experience the full power of God for Salvation.

It is our responsibility to share the Gospel for the Gospel is the power of God for all to be saved both now and forever. To this end then, I encourage us all to look for opportunities to share the good news of salvation in the upcoming weeks here so that all of us here may turn to God and experience the full power of His Salvation.
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