No Rapture? Now what?

Love!! That is it. Plain and simple. I as a Christian can go on and jump on the bandwagon and disassociate myself with all the Harold Campings of the world, or I can do what the Bible tells me to do and love my fellow believers. We should be the first ones to be reaching out to all those that missed it. Not the first ones pointing the finger and laughing or kicking them while they are down.

"By this all will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another." John 13:35 (NKJV)

I liken it to a family member that does or says some things to embarrass the family name. I am not going disown them or say they aren't part of my family. I will acknowledge that they are wrong, but I will then go to them in love and let them know their error.

The worse thing that we can do as Christ followers is to have a "I told you so" mentality. It creates disunity and just reinforces to all those who don't follow Christ that we eat our own. I think that is one reason that people choose not to surrender their "lives" to God, because they see the way that we treat each other. I wouldn't want to be a part of a family where there is nothing but backstabbing, name calling, and blatant disrespect. There is too much of that in our earthly families.

The best thing we can do is show the love of Christ to the world through our love and acceptance of our own. This does not mean that we simply admit that they are just the "crazies" of the family, but rather reach out to them and show them that we care for them. There are probably thousands of people out there that are really hurting from this and the world is waiting to see how we treat our own. Do not write them off, but rather restore them.

"Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out." Galatians 6:1 (MSG)

So love the way Christ loves us. Because He still loves them despite their error. If every time you made a error in judgement (no matter how big or small) and you got pounded for it, I'm sure you would walk away. So be that forgiving hand. Be the hand of Jesus!!!

End of the world? Tomorrow? Really?

(Journal entry that I felt led to share)

Today I've been kind of emotional (angry, sad, frustrated, amused) b/c of this whole "Rapture/Judgement Day" nonsense. According to Harold Camping, the end of the world begins tomorrow with the Rapture happening at 6:00pm each timezone. Matthew 24:36 is pretty straight forward about no one knowing when Christ will return.

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, but My Father only."

So it just makes me angry to see, hear, and read about the people claiming to be Christians and saying that tomorrow is THE DAY. Then there are the other people out there lumping all Christians together with this. How do I defend against this? Should I? I know what I believe. I know who Christ is to me and in me. I have just gotten overwhelmed with it all. I know that I need to just focus on Him and not get distracted by all those that lump us together. But what about those spreading this lie? What do I think about them? I truly feel that they are ones that love God, but are just misled and deceived. That is mainly what angers me.

Christians are definitely beginning to be taken less serious then ever before as well. This whole thing doesn't help. More and more we are being placed into a category that is one of holding onto a fairy tale or onto something that is not needed. But I know for sure that Christ is needed. I need Him!!! He Himself talks about His rejection in the Bible. People are rejecting Him all the time. I cannot take this personally. All I can do is.........

I must do my part to tell others of His message of hope and love. This leads to salvation. People need to have hope and experience love before they are willing or even able to receive salvation. Most people don't even think that they need to be saved from anything. When we say that we need to reach the lost, they don't even identify with that language. Because to them they "know" where they are and are perfectly fine with that. So how do you tell someone that is lost that they are? We can't. Jesus can. We need to stop beating people over the head with terms like judgement, salvation, and lost. We rather need to show love and acceptance. That is how Christ does it for us. Christ saves, not us!!!

So whether the Rapture happens tomorrow or not, I know who I owe my life to and I am going to live everyday as if my life depended on that person. Not out of fear, but out of confidence of who and what I am created for.