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21:16). The thought of death is a certain attention grabber.
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, nothing so focus«te the mind than the thought of a hanging in the morning. But there can also be an unhealthy preoccupation with the world coming to an end. Every generation has its wars and rumors of wars. And every generation has i$s doomsayers eager to proclaim “the end is near.”
We are hearing it again as we enter into the 21st century.
Maybe they are right this time. But apocalyptic obsessions that lead to a spiritual paralysis are not much help. Besides, an unhealthy preoccupation on “the end” runs contrary to the command of Christ to “...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” (Mat 28:19).
I always invite those who seem to be paralyzed with fear to stop stockpiling perishable goods, to join the Christian enterprise and to “slug it out with the rest of us.”
Admittedly, my response may be a bit too glib. As every Christian knows in his heart, the end truly is near. We might face God within the next minute, or within the next fifty years.
As the Psalmist laments “Our life is over like a sigh. Our span is seventy years or eighty for those who are strong. And most of these are emptiness and pain” (Psalm 90). The timing of our demise matters very little in the grand scheme of things where “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pet 3:9). But I stand by my advice.
As we consider the Four
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