“What
Time Is
It?”
By
Martin
Irish
“A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his
servant
at
supper
time to
say to
those
who were
invited,
‘Come,
for all
things
are now
ready.
‘But
they all
with one
accord
began to
make
excuses.
The
first
said to
him, ‘I
have
bought a
piece of
ground,
and I
must go
and see
it. I
ask you
to have
me
excused.’
And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going
to test
them. I
ask you
to have
me
excused.'
Still
another
said, ‘I
have
married
a wife,
and
therefore
I cannot
come.’
So that
servant
came and
reported
these
things
to his
master.
Then the
master
of the
house,
being
angry,
said to
his
servant,
‘Go out
quickly
into the
streets
and
lanes of
the
city,
and
bring in
here the
poor and
the
maimed
and the
lame and
the
blind.’
And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and
still
there is
room.’
Then the
master
said to
the
servant,
‘Go out
into the
highways
and
hedges,
and
compel
them to
come in,
that my
house
may be
filled.
For I
say to
you that
none of
those
men who
were
invited
shall
taste my
supper.’”
─Luke
14:16-24
NKJV
There is a problem I have been struggling with
and
since
the
Bible
says
that
there is
no
temptation
that we
have
experienced
except
that
which is
common
to man
(1
Corinthians
10:13),
then I
think it
is a
safe bet
to say
that
there
are
others
who
struggle
with it
too. The
struggle
that I
am
talking
about
has to
do with
the
inner
fight to
lay down
our own
desires,
hopes,
and
dreams;
and to
deny
ourselves,
pick up
our
cross
daily,
and
follow
Jesus.
Let’s be honest for a minute, and just admit
that it
is not
an easy
thing to
die to
self.
The
Bible
says in
Romans
chapter
twelve
that we
are to
present
ourselves
as a
living
sacrifice
to God,
but
someone
once
said
that the
problem
with
living
sacrifices
is that
they
tend to
crawl
off the
altar.
Humorous
as that
may be,
it is
also a
true and
sobering
fact
that we
must
continually
offer up
our
lives
and be
diligent
to
remain
in a
state of
submission
to our
sovereign
Lord on
a daily
basis.
Let me
see if I
can
bring
this
closer
to home
and
illustrate
it from
my own
life.
In January of 2011, I met this beautiful,
spirited,
and
loving
lady
whom I
fell in
love
with and
she with
me.
Between
the time
that we
met and
were
married,
I
started
to have
the
Scripture
verse
above
run
through
my head,
or more
accurately
just a
portion
of it.
The part
that
kept
coming
to mind
was, “I
have
married
a wife,
and
therefore
I cannot
come.”
But what
it was
going
through
my head
about
differed
from the
words of
Jesus;
for I
did not
seem to
be
declining
to come
to the
Master’s
banquet,
but
rather I
was
making
an
excuse
as to
why I
could
not obey
His
command
to labor
in His
field
for
harvest
time.
Now, I may be mistaken here, but all the things
that
have
happened
to me
since
this
struggle
began;
from
getting
laid off
from a
good job
that I
held for
seven
years,
to
falling
into a
state of
feeling
lost and
having
no goals
or
vision
to aim
for, to
slipping
into
depression
and
stepping
out of
fellowship
with
both the
Lord and
the
church
for a
few
months─have
all come
to pass
because
of this
one
thing: I
have
turned
away
from my
calling
to share
the Word
of God
with
others
and to
say what
the Lord
is
laying
upon my
heart to
say.
My wife and I have spent a good amount of time
sharing
with
each
other
our
dreams
and
desires
for
where we
would
like to
live,
what
kind of
home we
would
have,
size of
family,
careers,
hobbies,
and so
on
before
we were
married
and even
more
afterward.
We both
want a
small
house in
the
country
with
some
land for
a small
farm
with a
barn,
animals,
and a
garden.
Now this
may be
just me,
but I
get the
impression
that we
may not
have
that
much
time
left
before
the
Rapture
of the
church.
I spend time reading and listening to the news,
as well
as
following
a few
blogs on
the
Internet
and a
person
would
have to
be
pretty
ignorant
of Bible
prophecy
to not
see that
the
return
of
Christ
is
imminent.
With the
wars and
rumors
of wars,
the
famines,
droughts,
plagues,
and
distress
of
nations,
I feel
more
strongly
than
ever
before─that
it is
time
that we
watch
and
pray,
for we
do not
know
what
hour the
master
of the
house is
going to
return.
(Mark
13:35)
What’s more, there is a huge departure from the
faith
happening
in many
mainstream
Christian
churches
and
denominations.
People
are
leaving
and
joining
the
emergent
church
movement,
which is
adopting
demonically
inspired
practices
like
meditation,
which
they
call
“listening
prayer.”
And
listening
to
heretical
teachers
who say
that the
Word of
God has
been
corrupted
and that
Jesus
never
really
told
people
of an
eternal
punishment
for
sinners
in
hell─that
those
things
were
added
later by
the
early
church
leaders
who
sought
to
control
people
by fear.
They
preach a
pack of
lies
known as
universalism
in which
they say
that
hell is
not
forever,
but is
only a
temporary
punishment
meant to
cleanse
those
that go
there,
so that
they can
one day
accept
Christ’s
gift of
grace
and be
saved.
These very things are happening today; and they
directly
fulfill
the
warnings
that
Jesus,
Paul,
Peter,
John,
Jude,
and
James
told us
about;
that
wolves
would
creep
into our
midst in
the last
days,
not
sparing
the
flock.
Add to
that the
general
hatred
that is
growing
and
spreading
for
Christ
and His
followers;
that it
is
becoming
an
accepted
thing to
mock and
blaspheme
God and
our Lord
Jesus
Christ;
that the
world is
becoming
more
glutted
with
pornography,
violence,
greed,
and
every
form of
corruption
than
ever
before;
and it
has
become
ever
more
increasingly
popular
to call
what is
good
evil,
and what
is evil
good.
Our Lord
taught
us:
“And as
it was
in the
days of
Noah, so
it will
be also
in the
days of
the Son
of Man:
They
ate,
they
drank,
they
married
wives,
they
were
given in
marriage,
until
the day
that
Noah
entered
the ark,
and the
flood
came and
destroyed
them
all”
(Luke
17:26-28).
This means that the world went about their
business
as
usual,
and had
no idea
of the
judgment
that was
swiftly
approaching.
If we
consider
these
things
prayerfully,
I am
confident
that we
can
quickly
get the
idea
that
Jesus is
standing
at the
very
door of
heaven;
preparing
to give
the
command
for the
trumpet
to sound
and the
archangel
to shout
for us
to be
gathered
together
to meet
the Lord
in the
air.
When our Lord Jesus gave us warning of the
signs of
the end
of all
things,
He said
that
they
would be
the
beginning
of birth
pains
(Mark
13:8),
and we
all know
that
when a
woman
goes
into
labor
the
pains
start
out
lighter
and
farther
apart,
then
they
quickly
grow
more
intense
and
painful
and
happen
closer
and
closer
together
until
the baby
is ready
to be
brought
into the
world.
It seems
that
things
are
happening
at such
a pace
today
that
even
with the
age of
instant
news,
the
internet,
and
satellite
communications
it is
hard to
keep up
with the
events
as they
take
place.
So I am
left
with
this
God-inspired
admonition
that was
delivered
to us
through
the
apostle
Peter:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise,
as some
count
slackness,
but is
longsuffering
toward
us, not
willing
that any
should
perish
but that
all
should
come to
repentance.
But the
day of
the Lord
will
come as
a thief
in the
night,
in which
the
heavens
will
pass
away
with a
great
noise,
and the
elements
will
melt
with
fervent
heat;
both the
earth
and the
works
that are
in it
will be
burned
up.
Therefore, since all these things
will be
dissolved,
what
manner
of
persons
ought
you to
be in
holy
conduct
and
godliness,
looking
for and
hastening
the
coming
of the
day of
God,
because
of which
the
heavens
will be
dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent
heat?
Nevertheless
we,
according
to His
promise,
look for
new
heavens
and a
new
earth in
which
righteousness
dwells.
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these
things,
be
diligent
to be
found by
Him in
peace,
without
spot and
blameless;
and
consider
that the
longsuffering
of our
Lord is
salvation
— as
also our
beloved
brother
Paul,
according
to the
wisdom
given to
him, has
written
to you,”
(2 Peter
3:9-15,
emphasis
added).
Here, in the holy words spoken by the Holy
Spirit
to the
heart
and mind
of Peter
is where
I find
the
confrontation
between
the
Spirit
of God
and my
own
flesh.
Look
again at
the
words in
bold
type─especially
at the
word
hastening.
I
looked
it up to
be sure
of my
understanding
of its
meaning
and I
have
been
amazed
at the
implications
of it in
the
passage.
To
hasten
something
means to
expedite
it, to
make it
happen
faster,
to speed
it along
and I
asked a
friend
of mine
if this
actually
means
that by
really
applying
ourselves
to doing
the will
of God
and
obeying
Him in
preaching,
teaching,
evangelizing,
and
doing
the work
of the
ministry
of the
church
in the
world,
can we
actually
cause
the
return
of
Christ
to
happen
sooner
than
planned?
As I thought of this, I remembered how one
Bible
teacher
was
saying
that we
humans
are
time-oriented,
but God
is
event-oriented.
And then
I
thought
of the
Scripture
in
Romans
11:25
where
Paul is
saying
that
blindness
to the
gospel
has in
part
happened
to the
Jews,
“until
the
fullness
of the
Gentiles
have
come
in.”
Does
this
mean
that God
is
waiting
with
patient
long-suffering
for a
certain
event,
for the
fullness
of the
Gentiles
to enter
salvation
in this
dispensation
of grace
that we
have
before
the time
of
Jacob’s
trouble
sets in;
then God
will
give the
command
for
Jesus to
come and
take His
people
out of
this
world?
This all sounds really great to me, but in this
I find a
conflict
in my
heart
and
soul;
and that
while I
know
that the
best
days
here on
earth
can’t
even
come
close to
comparing
with the
utter
joy,
peace,
and
excitement
of being
in the
very
presence
of God,
I would
still
like to
have
time to
obtain
some of
my
dreams
and
goals
that I
have for
home and
family.
I have
even
found
myself
almost
praying
that the
Lord
would
take His
time in
returning
so I
could
have
what I
want.
The
Bible
says in
2 Kings
5:26:
“Is it time to receive money and to receive
clothing,
olive
groves
and
vineyards,
sheep
and
oxen,
male and
female
servants?”
Now in this passage, Elisha was reprimanding
his
disciple
Gehazi
for
running
and
acquiring
goods
from
Naaman
the
Syrian
after
Naaman
was
healed
by God
through
Elisha
the
prophet
and
offered
to pay
for it,
but I am
compelled
to
ponder
this
verse as
it runs
through
my head
in my
daily
struggle
of flesh
vs.
Spirit.
I believe as disciples of Jesus Christ we are
to be
about
the
Father’s
business
as the
foremost
focus of
our
time,
talents,
and
treasures.
While I
believe
that God
does
give us
hopes,
dreams
and
desires
for our
lives
here on
earth,
and
there is
nothing
innately
evil
about
these
things
for they
are
after
all,
God-given
dreams.
But I
want to
seek by
God’s
graces
to be
ever
vigilant
so that
my
dreams
and
desires
for a
nice,
comfortable
life
full of
pleasures
and
luxuries
will not
steal
away the
attention
and
drive
and
ambition
of my
life and
threaten
to send
the
Sovereign
Lord of
all
creation
into
second
place in
my
heart.
Do we know what time it is?
“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto to us, but to
Your
name
give
glory…”
(Psalm
115:1).
Until next time,
If
anyone
would
like to
read my
rambles:
http://onelife4hymn.wordpress.com/