The End Is Near
7The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
--1 Peter 4:7-11
My grandpa came to live with me yesterday. He's 93 years old. He's too weak to spend much time outside. His eyesight is too weak for him to read and he's not sure he'd have the strength to concentrate long enough to handle a book anyway. So he spends most of his time sitting on the couch either listening to the radio, sleeping, or thinking. He spends a lot of time sitting and thinking. I asked him what he thinks about. "At my age you think about God and death," he replied. Because the end is near.
We see in this passage a beautiful deduction of the great commandments- love God and to love your neighbor. We are to love deeply--offer hospitality without grumbling (unconditionally). We are to use our gifts to serve others. Service is nothing more than the extension of God's grace. It is God's grace that brings about peace (shalom)--the way things are supposed to be. So grace comes in various forms. It comes through the proclamation of the Truth of God (for those who speak), and it comes in the form of acts of service. Jesus charges his followers to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God (grace in the form of proclamation) and to heal the sick (grace in the form of service) (Luke 10). And the reason we do this is "so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." Living as if the end is near is the great orienter. It gives life necessary alignment. It gives proper perspective. A person with a "the end is near" perspective is not a crazy dude with sign and a bullhorn. He's someone who understands and acts on what's important in life--God and neighbor.
--1 Peter 4:7-11
My grandpa came to live with me yesterday. He's 93 years old. He's too weak to spend much time outside. His eyesight is too weak for him to read and he's not sure he'd have the strength to concentrate long enough to handle a book anyway. So he spends most of his time sitting on the couch either listening to the radio, sleeping, or thinking. He spends a lot of time sitting and thinking. I asked him what he thinks about. "At my age you think about God and death," he replied. Because the end is near.
We see in this passage a beautiful deduction of the great commandments- love God and to love your neighbor. We are to love deeply--offer hospitality without grumbling (unconditionally). We are to use our gifts to serve others. Service is nothing more than the extension of God's grace. It is God's grace that brings about peace (shalom)--the way things are supposed to be. So grace comes in various forms. It comes through the proclamation of the Truth of God (for those who speak), and it comes in the form of acts of service. Jesus charges his followers to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God (grace in the form of proclamation) and to heal the sick (grace in the form of service) (Luke 10). And the reason we do this is "so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." Living as if the end is near is the great orienter. It gives life necessary alignment. It gives proper perspective. A person with a "the end is near" perspective is not a crazy dude with sign and a bullhorn. He's someone who understands and acts on what's important in life--God and neighbor.
posted by Kevin Hanly at
4:16 AM
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