John 8: 27-30
” They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’ Even as he spoke, many believed in him.”
They did not understand…
How often has this phrase been repeated? How often was it true? Is it still true today?
Christianity can seem complicated if you are getting your information from one of those who likes to impart rules on others. Christianity can seem offensive when a person is accosted by a practitioner of the faith who demands your obedience. Christianity can seem irrelevant in a world where there are so many other things to occupy our time.
Yet, at the moment when we are faced with our own mortality, whether it is one of those “near misses” or it is at the end of our life, we are confronted with the question, “What next?”
Q: What is your plan for the last moments of your life? Is that plan affected in any way by what you do now?
Yes. That question haunts me. As a pastor, often it feels that what I am really doing is preparing people for eternity. That includes myself.