Like many of you, I have an alarm clock.
Not only do I have a clock, but my watch, phone, computer, television, coffee maker and dog all have some sort of a means of letting me know if I am late, early or just wasting time.
In fact, I hear alarms go off almost on the hour. Some keep me on my toes, others just mark the passing of the hour, (think Big Ben).
And, while I appreciate all the tech that goes into these indicators of life’s journey, I cannot help but wonder if we are missing the big picture.
Paul wrote in Romans 13:11, “Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers.”
In other words, it is time to start paying attention because we are closer to Christ’s coming than we have ever been.
Now, I am not a doomsday prophet, nor do I want to start a discussion on Revelation and such.
What I do know is this, we as the church have been asleep too long, (when I say church, I mean the entire body of Christ, not just a single denomination).
We have let things slide. We have looked out for our own interests and not for our neighbors. We have let our people down.
This is being shown to us daily in the news and social media.
We have witnessed the breakdown of the family and are relying too much on non-biblical teachings to guide us in our decisions.
We are ignoring basic tenets of faith and thus ignoring basic human needs. We are living in a culture of “doing to others before they do it to you.”
Human depravity is becoming the norm, and human decency is being characterized as abnormal. We are living in strange times indeed.
And, yes, I, as a pastor, am partly to blame because I am part of the problem, not the solution.
But, I share that with every other churchgoer in our country and world. We, the church, stopped being the church a long time ago. But, through Christ, we can fix this.
Love is the key. Not the emotional stuff you see in every Disney princess movie and definitely not that stuff that gives movies anything other than a G rating.
No, I am talking about self-forgetful love of your neighbor.
That love that allows us to see the image of God in each person. That love that draws us to share our meal or roof to help even an enemy.
I am talking about that same Agape love that led Christ to the cross.
We have to change. Our communities, families, churches and country cannot take much more of this.
We need to wake up and put on Christ, (read further in Romans 13). We need to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking of others.
We need to change our hearts and help others change theirs.
No government can be an instrument of changing the heart, but Christ can.
We need to put on Christ, so hearts will change. Only a change of heart will bring these troubled times to an end. Only Christ’s love can change the heart.
I will see you in church.
The Rev. Kent Wilfong is the pastor at the United Methodist Church, Doniphan/Neelyville.