End of the World

Wow. Another tornado in Joplin, Missouri took out the town and as of now at least 89 lives. There will probably be more. There were over 300 lost last month to the tornado in Alabama. Major earthquakes in Japan, Pakistan, Mexico and Turkey. Floods along the Mississippi. Tsunamis. Crazy weather. Fallen economies. There is no mistaking that recent events have an apocalyptic feel about them. So is it the end of the world? Well if it is, it isn't because some guy says he figured out the math and came up with the date.

As a Christian, I do believe that Jesus will return someday. But this focus on being ready for "the rapture" is a distraction from the work at hand. The real issue is that we don't have to wait for God to come back. God is here right now - and our ability to be ready for our own personal "judgement day", which could come at any time without warning in the form of a heart attack or car accident or a myriad of other ways - isn't going to be in passing out fliers or selling all our possessions and taking ads of warning out around the world. Our ability to be ready is in our conscious decision to be available to give sacrificially to help those in need - right here in the U.S. and abroad. There is no end to the need right now. We all give. We have to give more. Of our resources, our time, ourselves.

We can't stop earthquakes or tornadoes or floods from happening. But we can help those who are victimized by them. The bible gives a very simple solution for this. Give 1 penny out of every 10 that you have. Sounds very doable, right? Okay well what if all our pennies add up to $10,000? That means you give $1,000. That sounds pretty scary. But it is exactly the same. And we have to be willing to do it because if everyone gave 10% of what they earned to help those in need around the world, we would actually have no one in need. And that would be better for all of us.

Of course, there is a catch - it should be done in secret. Because while we may feel so generous and kind because we are willing to give 10% of what we work so hard for, in truth it has absolutely nothing to do with us. Because while we work hard for our money, we can always find thousands more who work harder and have nothing at all. The fact is that while we may work hard, it is by the grace of God that we are blessed with whatever it is we have. So when we give, we need to take ourselves out of it. We are asked to give from our blessings - which we deserve no more than the hardworking person who has nothing. We have been blessed by God so that He can use us to bless others. And it is really important that we recognize this and be grateful. Because it can all be taken from us without warning - just ask the 8.7%++ unemployed right now. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we have. What matters is what we have done with what we have been given. And from this attitude, we serve God. And if we serve God, we love Him and we will be ready for our own individual judgement day - however and whenever it comes. No need for panic.

One last thought. This issue of tithing (giving 10%) - it is the only place in the bible where God asks you to test Him. He says to give one tenth of everything you have and see if you are not rewarded ten-fold. I always bet on God's promises. Open a newspaper. There is someone somewhere who desperately needs one dollar from your ten.