This could be the year! It seems this is the battle cry of every football team and their fans at every level every fall.
In fact, it is usually more personal. “This could be our year.” And so the season is entered with hope and excitement.
But this year, 2012, is different, and I’m not talking about football. They say this could be the year. By now, you have certainly read or heard that some believe the world will end on Dec. 21 of this year. I joked with a friend that this event would save me money because my anniversary is Dec. 22. I won’t have to buy a gift.
I don’t mean to make light of this prediction, but I have to tell you that I do not believe it is true. Now, I do believe the world in which we live will one day come to an end as we know it.
I believe the return of Jesus Christ will usher in a brand new age. But I do not think we can ever predict the timing for that event.
I remember receiving a book in the mail 23 years ago titled, “Eighty Eight Reasons Christ Will Return in 1988.” I am not joking about this. Early the next year I received, from the same author, “Eighty Nine Reasons …”
I don’t think he wrote any more sequels. Maybe he was afraid that three strikes would put him out. Still, the very attempt to make such predictions strikes against the teachings of the Bible.
Again, I am certain Jesus will come again and that he will complete the work he has started in all of us. But it is not our place to predict when. Too much time and too much paper have been spent in such attempts. But there is something that we should do. It is really very simple.
You and I should live our lives every moment as if the next breath we take could be our last. We would treat people more kindly if we did so. We would be about the business of obeying God if we would do that. Our churches would be different if we started to behave as if this day might be our last. Our priorities would change — and for the better.
God has promised to bring this world to its rightful conclusion. He has promised to complete the work he started. He has promised that Jesus will return. But he has not given us complete details in how and when that will be. I believe there is purpose in that.
He desires that we live as if each day could be our last. I encourage you to take that approach to today, to tomorrow and to the next day. Your world will be better for it.