4-19-21<\/p>\n
Life goes on.<\/p>\n
Easter is over; Memorial Day is next; Summer begins; will the lockdowns end? Oh, those politicians. Oh, those riots, Oh, those headlines. Best if I ignore TV news for awhile. Before we know it, school will start up again\u2026 or will it? I wonder if we\u2019ll get more free checks by then?<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t always take \u201cbread and circuses\u201d to keep us distracted. Modern life, even without pandemic frenzy and political upheavals, presents a full agenda.<\/p>\n
Life goes on; the sun rises, we tend to business, the sun sets, and we sleep till tomorrow. Things please us, and things alarm us\u2026 but there\u2019s always tomorrow to worry, and, maybe, fix things. It has always been that way, right?<\/p>\n
Just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also [in the last days]: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus looked ahead to our times, and (in Matthew and, here, in Luke 17) spoke about complacency, sin, self-delusion, and people taking false comfort in the meme \u201clife goes on.\u201d Who did He think He was, the Son of God or someone, thinking He could prophesy? What gave Him the authority to warn people?<\/p>\n How much worse it will be for those who never really know the Truth \u2013 never heard it, or honestly never had it presented to them. But for Christians who came through Easter, who have known the Truth, who have \u201caccepted\u201d Jesus, how many go through the year in effect saying, \u201cJesus died\u2026 Whatever.\u201d Or \u201cHe rose from the dead\u2026 Whatever.\u201d Or \u201cI\u2019ll go to Heaven, no worries\u201d \u2026 and then eat, drink, marry, give in marriage. Whatever.<\/p>\n The suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus gave humankind, in effect, a \u201cGet Out Of Jail Free\u201d card. That is so casual a view as to be near blasphemous, unless we realize how basically profound it is. As the saying goes, Salvation is free, but a great price was paid.<\/p>\n What Jesus said about the days of Noah, and our days, is that people putter about, doing this and that, when great things portend, if we would only see them. But we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n Did Jesus die for your sins? Act like you know it, and thank Him!<\/p>\n Did Jesus rise from the dead? Act like it transforms your life too!<\/p>\n Did Jesus send the Holy Spirit? Act with guidance, wisdom, and power!<\/p>\n The Atonement was Jesus trading the punishment for your sins for the chance to live a life of love and service. The greatest deal in history, excuse my casual language again. It does not deserve a \u201cWhatever\u201d from those who have been redeemed.<\/p>\n If you do not act like your life has been transformed by Christ\u2019s grace then, in fact\u2026 you have not<\/em> been transformed.<\/p>\n One of the few things Jesus asked in a response was that we share the news of what He did. Can it be possible, then, to share without showing great enthusiasm? If you had a cure for cancer, and a friend or stranger had cancer, would you not share that<\/em>? Even if it were \u201cuncomfortable\u201d? Even if they ridiculed you for trying to save their lives?<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever\u201d\u2026 and shrugging your shoulders cannot be your response.<\/p>\n We can have a thousand responses. But I suggest three:<\/p>\n 1. Come (again?) to know the Truth \u2013 Jesus embodied the truth: \u201cI am the way, the Truth, and the life.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. Repent of your \u201cWhatevers.\u201d In the St Matthew Passion<\/em> is the prayer \u201cErbarme Dich\u201d \u2013 Have pity, my God, for the sake of my tears! 3. Share! \u201cGo tell it!\u201d Love others. Stay above the mundane. Rebuke the Whatevers. \u201cGo into all the world…\u201d<\/p>\n Life <\/em>goes on. Act like it!<\/p>\n
\nLook here, how bitterly my heart and eyes weep before you.
\nHave pity, my God<\/em>.<\/p>\n