But what will you do when the end comes?

Jeremiah 5

²¹"Hear this, O foolish and senseless people,
who have eyes, but see not,
who have ears, but hear not.
²²Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it.
²³But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴They do not say in their hearts,
'Let us fear the LORD our God,
who gives the rain in its season,
the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
the weeks appointed for the harvest.'
²⁵Your iniquities have turned these away,
and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶For wicked men are found among my people;
they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.
They set a trap;
they catch men.
²⁷Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
²⁸they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
²⁹Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the LORD,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?"

³⁰An appalling and horrible thing
has happened in the land:
³¹the prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so,
but what will you do when the end comes?

In the past, it may have been the case that the church used to 'scare' people into 'believing' with "if you don't come to church, you'll go to hell!" which, of course, is not true or loving or good. But I think that these days, people tend to not be afraid of God at all. They forget about or ignore His majestic, awesome power and have no idea just how incredibly scary it would be to stand before a righteous God in judgement.

1. A couple of weeks ago, I was observing at a primary school with four other girls about my age. This particular day, we had seen a Scripture lesson take place as part of the school's program. On the walk home, we were discussing it and one girl remarked about how she thought it wasn't fair to have Christian Scripture taught to everyone and not any other religions some of the children may be a part of. The other girls pointed out that parents always have the right to exclude their child from Scripture at school. Afterwards, I made some comment about how Australia can't seem to decide whether they want to be seen as a Christian country or not. One girl said that she thinks that's the beauty of this country, that we don't have to choose.

But the truth is, we do have to choose. God has made it perfectly clear. We can't pretend like Judgement Day isn't real, like it isn't coming. Heaven is a perfect place, and the only one who meets the criteria for entry is Jesus Christ. Either you rejoice in God's grace and let Him pay the price for you and reserve a room for you, or you say "no" and turn away from God and take the consequences that come with it. We must make a choice to take Jesus up on his offer, surrender our lives to Him and be glorified with Him in Heaven; or to reject him, live our lives for ourselves and in turn be rejected by Him from Heaven.

2. The other day I started reading a book called "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, which has become popular recently. I'm not very far through it at all, but I have already come across some things that make my blood boil and my soul sorrowful. She says:

...let me first explain why I use the word God, when I could just as easily use the words Jehovah, Allah, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu or Zeus. Alternatively, I could call God "That"... but that "That" feels impersonal to me... and "God" is the name that feels the most warm to me, so that's what I use. I should also confess that I generally refer to God as "Him"... of course I don't mind if people call God "Her"...

And while I do love that great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, I can't swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God.

But the truth is, we cannot choose bits and pieces of the Bible or of God's character as we please. We can't choose to believe in this bit because it's convenient for us or in that bit because it seems nice and not in this bit because it's difficult or in that bit because it's hard to swallow. Being a Christian means you get to know God AS HE IS, ON HIS TERMS. This is GOD we're talking about. The omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God! Not some 'nice idea' we can mould into whatever we want to make ourselves feel better.


If you're not a Christian yet, you need to look into it, get the facts right and make your choice. Look, mate - God is real. He knows everything, He's everywhere and He's all powerful and you need to have a reverent fear of Him. But He is your Heavenly Father - a loving, caring, gracious and merciful Father and you need to have a personal relationship with Him. And you know what? It's the best ever.

If you are a Christian, praise God that your name is written in the book of life!! (Luke 10:20) Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) and reach out to the lost with the Good News of Christ!! (Matthew 28:19)

2 Corinthians 5

¹¹Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. ¹²We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.