Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Camping - Two days to go?

May 21st saw a 'spiritual' rapture and Friday apparently sees the physical rapture! The interesting thing for me in all this is that Harold and his crew appear to be rather unsure about it and the world, secular and spiritual, are playing their part in this remake of the story of 'the boy who cried "Wolf" '.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned here.

When I was at school we had a boy who was obviously bright and yet always failed to come through with homework and results. Every now and then he'd resolve to up his game, but never did! Eventually the teachers looked to lesser mortals, who responded and rose up the (streamed) classes, and left him to mediocre results and a life in the exciting world of civil service pen-pushing (nothing wrong with that but he wanted science as a career).

I regularly encounter a Christian whose lifestyle denies the Christian message they proclaim. The result of this is that they, and Christ, become the focus of jokes and our evangelist sows seeds of ridicule rather than life.

Camping is billed as being a 'nutter' and stories abound of a man who has lost the plot on a number of levels. Many now discount his words and have put Jesus' return into the tray marked 'never going to happen' or 'wishful thinking' or worse!

So, as we draw nearer to 'R Day' can I challenge us to think about where the continued and obvious failings, the lack of fulfilling our promise or living the Christian life, act against the kingdom of God and its increase.

So, don't sort Camping out - start closer to home with the person in the mirror and see how we can help them, and others, be fit for heaven.

Pax

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