THE TIME IS SHORT

We’re in a 400-meter race, we’ve just rounded the last turn, and we can see the finish line about 80 meters ahead. That’s what it feels like at the moment as we move toward 2025 and into the holiday season. And for many of us, we feel like we just got started in this race. 

Even though the “finish line” I am referring to is the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, it also applies to each one of our lives, and to where we are in the timeline of Biblical prophecy. Every day each one of us, as much as we try to prolong and deny it, moves closer to the day we pass from this earth into eternity. Unless Jesus returns soon this applies to all of us. But I also believe that we are very quickly moving toward the day that we as the Church meet Jesus in the air and go back to heaven with him (the Rapture). Even though people in the past have sounded the alarm and predicted the Rapture, we’ve never been in a position of fulfilled Biblical prophecies as we are today. 

ALL THE ABOVE

So whether you choose one of these scenarios or combine them all together, the outcome is the same – we are heading into the Final Stretch of the race and the time is short. The main question we all need to answer is – “How will I live out my life as I approach the Finish Line?”  Why is this important to me? 

Jesus tells us that we will be blessed and rewarded as we cross the finish line of life, and a significant part of those rewards will be based on how well we finish. Will we crawl across the line, just casually jog, or will we go into a full sprint and give it all we’ve got? That’s the question for each of us. 

So, as we move into this final months of 2024, what are some things you need to do to finish out the year with No Regrets – where you gave it all you got, and you gave all you could. This Christmas Season – yes I know Thanksgiving is first - I suggest that our focus be on how well we can be a “Giver” more than a “Receiver.” Even though receiving things seems like a real blessing at the time,

So many more blessings come our way when we become a Giver. So now, and for the rest of your life, it is a good time to give it all you got and sprint to the Finish Line!

-Pastor Vern