Matthew 24:9-14

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

Sounds like a really fun time to be alive and a Christian, doesn’t it? Seriously, Jesus paints a pretty gloomy picture here in Matthew 24 and if you think things in the world are bad now…just give it some more time. It’s going to get a lot worse.

Matthew Henry, in his great commentary, has this to say about the 24th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel:

“Those who will not hear the messengers of peace shall be made to hear the messengers of war. But where the heart is fixed, trusting in God, it is kept in peace, and is not afraid. It is against the mind of Christ, that his people should have troubled hearts, even in troublous times.”

Do the events of the world get you down? Do they fill you with fear or at least great concern? Don’t let the state of the world impact the state of your joy, peace and assurance! Jesus wants all of us to focus on our relationship with Him…not on today’s headlines or tomorrow’s worries (Matthew 6:34).

Remember: your life in the here and now is like a dot, while your life in eternity with Christ in Heaven is like an unending line. One will be gone before you know it, like your children’s childhood. The other will NEVER end and promises glories and beauties and treasures that we can’t conjure up in our wildest imaginations!

Don’t worry about the “heat in the kitchen”…it’s not your destination, anyway.