The concepts of "Doomsayer" and "Doomslayer" contained in this post came from some notes I had in a very old file. I would love to give credit to the original speaker, but I simply don't know who it was. I can only say, "Thank you" and praise God for the inspiration all of these years later...
More and more these days I read articles and blogs that seem to take a negative view of our future here on planet earth. They are worried about the end of the world, terrorism, our economy and so much more. Just yesterday I received an email explaining that the prophets foretold the world will end while Obama is President so that history can record that he is to blame. Huh? If the world ends who will record history? There are actually people out there who this minute are worried about the Zombie Apocalypse or an alien invasion. It's crazy! But anyway... Much of this writing comes from people who call themselves Christians, and this concerns me. At a time when so much of the world has become consumed with the end of times and being Doomsayers, we who know Jesus should be positioning ourselves as Doomslayers. While others find their hearts hardened with fear, hatred and distrust, we need be a people who have had our hearts (to borrow a phrase from G.K. Chesterton) "hardened with hope." If those who believe in a risen Christ do not have hope how can we expect anyone else to? Just recently I had a longtime believer write to me talking about how evil this world is, and that there seems to be no hope for good. Her point was that "things are bad now, and will only get worse. We don't know what the future holds."
Actually... YES we do!
We know exactly what the future holds. Paul wrote that there is nothing- NOTHING!- "that can separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our LORD." We know that whatever we may face, the power of the Cross can meet the challenge. We may not know where the twists and turns our journey here on earth may lead us, but we know where the road ends. God wins! We may not see what the future holds, but we know WHO holds the future. And in that future, these things are true:
* The lion will lie down with the lamb.
* The wicked will cease their troubling.
* The weary will find rest.
* There will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more hatred.
* There will be no more hunger and no more war.
So in this world of Doomsayers, it is time for the Church to rise up and be the beacon of hope that Jesus wants us to be. We need to help our friends and neighbors discover the abundant life now (John 10:10) and the eternal life forever (John 3:16). It's time to be a Doomslayer! How? Like this...
- To those who feel weary and unloved, we say, "Jesus loves me- this I know!"
- To those who feel lost, we say, "Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life."
- To those who have lost faith, we say, "Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forever!"
- To those who put their faith in a political party or movement, we say, "There is only one King of Kings and LORD of Lords who guides us."
- To those who have lost their joy, we sing, "Joy to the world! The LORD is come!"
- To those who have lost hope, Jesus says "Come to me, and I will give you rest...and peace."
Far too many of us stand in church each weekend and sing "Our God Saves" or "Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness," and then go out and live our lives in the chains forged by the Doomsayers. It's time to pick a side. Will we join the mighty chorus of doom that is echoing through our land? Or will will join the great cloud of witnesses proclaiming in a loud and mighty voice, "Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus" and carrying his overwhelming message of hope to our communities. I cannot speak for anyone else, but as for me, I choose to harden my heart with hope. I choose to be a Doomslayer. I choose Jesus.
Because of Jesus,
Well said. The "back in the good old days" narrative really gets tiresome, IMO. I'd much rather focus on what's come into the world rather than what the "world has come to."
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