Time Is Shorter Than We Think

But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day (2 Pet. 3:8).

I have been given my “marching orders” according to the plan God has for me. I came from God, and at some point in the future, He will call me back to Himself. Since I don't know when that will be, it's all the more important to pay attention to what Jesus said about the need to be ready for His coming at all times for we know neither the day nor the hour (Mt. 25:13).

I sometimes struggle with trusting in God to lay out each step in my life’s journey – and the shortness of that time. It's taking on a whole new meaning in this "hangover period" since President Obama’s inauguration. I find it ironic that the inauguration of the most radically pro-abortion president in history falls in the same week as today’s anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. I can’t help but be concerned about his pre-election promise to sign FOCA into law as one of his first acts as president, and the ramifications of that on so many innocent lives.

Some in the pro-life movement have thrown up their hands and all but hoisted the white flag or surrender at the prospect that all the gains made in the past 8 or so years are about to be summarily undone with a single stroke of the president's pen. While I share that concern, I also find great hope in the words of the Psalmist: Those whose steps are guided by the Lord, whose way God approves, may stumble, but they will never fall, for the Lord holds their hand (Ps. 37:23-24).

As I was putting this post together, the thought came to me that it took time and ten plagues before Pharoah let the children of Israel leave the bondage of Egypt. And as they wandered in the desert for 40 years the children of Israel both tried the Lord and were tried by Him. Similarly, it seems our society will need to be literally pushed to its knees before it recognizes and begs the power of God to free it from the bondage of those people and things we have made into gods. (Clearly, 9-11 wasn't enough to wake us up.) Our fidelity to God's laws is so often like climbing a muddy hill. We take 3 steps forward and then slide 2 steps back.

In his inauguration speech, President Obama said, “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” Those are words that every Christian, and indeed every person genuinely seeking truth, can take to heart and appropriate, though not necessarily in the same spirit he intended. We Christians need to stop apologizing for our way of life, for our morality, for defending the God-given rights of the most vulnerable among us. We need to live our values unabashedly and courageously. Uncompromising witness to Truth changes people’s hearts – just as faith in Jesus on the part of a ragtag band of 1st century fishermen and tax collectors ultimately changed the course of human history.

Our new president also said, “The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness” (emphasis mine). These are words that every God-fearing Christian can and should appropriate, though perhaps not the same way that our president intended them. Personally, I’m going to hold the Mr. Obama to his words. “All” means just that. All of God's children, without exception, including the unborn, the disabled, the terminally ill, those on the margins of society.

The president is right about one thing: things will likely get worse before they get better. That has a lot of people worried about how they will take care of their families, and rightfully so. But for the committed Christian, things are different. We know that we have been given in love by our heavenly Father to His Son, Jesus, and no one can snatch us from His hand (cf. Jn. 10:28). Though we may not be spared the trials and tribulations that will surely come, we have read the last chapter and we know how our life story ends – in victory through the cross of Christ. Thus we do not fear, though earth be shaken and mountains quake to the depths of the sea, though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob (Ps. 46:3-4).

Prayer Request: For the vulnerable – the unborn, the disabled, the terminally ill, the outcast and the stranger among us.

Prayer: O Lord, our God, thank You for calling us Your children, for counting us among the sheep of Your flock. In these times of uncertainty, help us to sink our roots ever more deeply into Him who is our rock and our strength, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.