But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!
2 Timothy 3:1-5 BSB
This morning I could only think of a line from a Beatles song: “I read the news today—oh, boy.” We truly live in perilous times. Russia is on the brink of regime change while toying with the idea of nuclear war. China is intervening in the Middle East while openly advocating for war. Israel is bracing under the assault. On the home front, our nation, which once provided stability to the world, is weak and divided. On the moral/cultural front, I saw a video of garishly half-dressed people in the streets chanting, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your kids.” They weren’t kidding. They are proud of it.
The thing that really set me off was a new study of pastors that says they are tired, feeling burned out in record numbers. Believe me, I get it. I’ve been there. My question is, if your house is on fire is it the right time to take a vacation? I’m concerned that if our major focus is “work-life balance,” we will lose both our work and our life before we finish our counseling session. As we gather today in our local assemblies, let’s shake off the dust from our faith and determine to be the people of power that we were created to be.
We who know the power of the Spirit, the reality of the Presence, the supremacy of the Word, and the authority of the believer have a responsibility to gird up, stand up, and speak up. It starts in your prayer closet (you remember the prayer closet?), moves with you to the pew (that means you have to be in church), sets a fire in the people around you (it’s contagious through close contact), then moves us all into the world without fear or favor or compromise. It’s time for all hands on deck.
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