Finding oneself in a lost world...

As our children grow, I watch the talks that we have change.  The questions become harder.  The shows that they watch become harder to combat with.  The world we live in grows stronger to over take and overwhelm with ways that seem to take them down paths that are hard and scary... This morning as I prayed, I was overwhelmed by todays society. Thinking of the youth of today... teens taking on the Tide Pod challenge or the Aerosol deodorant challenge... The amount of stories I hear of teens struggling to know their "sexual identity", or the cutting, the suicide attempts because of the pressures of life, drug overdoses, the shootings and killings... it's a heavy world... Then our children ask questions. They want to understand. They want to know why.

So, this morning, God took me to a passage I know well, but it clicked in a way it had never clicked today.  It's found in 2 Timothy 4:2 It says, "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction."  I normally stop here. I normally just see this and realize that as a Christian, I'm to be prepared for anything... but here's the kicker.. here's what got me this morning is what's in the the following verses. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."  This is the reality of where we stand today. This is America...  America has gone "Politically correct"... people want comfort, they want to hear only what they believe, only what they want to hear, and when other words are spoken they moan and they cry and they outrage against it because it's not their own desires.  This is not to be the church of God... we are to be prepared in season and out of season.... we are to correct, rebuke, and encourage... and that's not always comfortable.  Yes! With great patience... yes, with careful instruction! We aren't to be Bible thumpers and Holy Rollers that come in and judge and criticize and scare people away from the Gospel of Christ... but instead... we are to find that balance where we are  not softening the gospel to the point that it is unrecognizable and "comfortable" but that it's not so hard that it's judgmental and harsh.

Then.... it says "But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." We aren't to be Ostrich Christians and keep our head in the sand... So many times, we want to hide from the conflict and avoid the reality of everything and avoid addressing hard topics.  We can't.  YOU... ME.... we have to keep our heads in the game... we can't fear speaking up.... we can't hide from the people that don't want to hear what we have to say... we can't keep the truth hidden and cover our faith up... God himself has commanded us to step it up... to peach... to be ready... to get our heads in the game... to bring the Gospel and the truth of Jesus to a lost world... This world is truly lost... God's heart rends and breaks with every decision that draws people away from him... seeking after our own desires, surrounding ourselves with people who will only speak what we want to hear, turning away from truth... it's RUBBISH... it's time to be ready... it's time to get ready.... It's time to rally yourself... the end game.. filling heaven with every soul imaginable so no one is left behind.... hearing Papa God say... WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT....

Time to be ready... Time to speak up... Time to PREACH IT....