Saved and Waiting…

I don’t know about you but I know from my personal experiences that too many “church-people” have adopted the idea that now that I’ve surrendered my life to Jesus, I just need to sit back in anticipation of the rapture.

Why are there so many people sitting around doing nothing more than trying to absorb all they can in churches today? So many church-people simply waiting and then going off after service and carrying on their lives as though they expect to live for years yet to come.

People spend huge amounts of money building bigger houses and buying newer cars and doing all the things that seem to be a contradiction to their church-attitude that the rapture is about to happen so let’s just sit it out in church waiting for that to occur!

The problem is too many church-people are just that, church-people; they have bought into the idea of needing church for eternal security but being totally absent from the work of the Lord that so desperately needs to be carried out.

I refer to these as “church-people” for a reason. Church is valuable to these particular individuals only as a means of conscience-security. These individuals believe the basic doctrines of the church, probably many of them raised up in the church.

They recognize their need to hang onto something of eternal value while at the same time having a strong misunderstanding of what the church is truly all about. Church-people pay what they consider their due to the church while never making a total surrender to the Lord of the church and His plan for their lives. Many of these are “in church” but I question if they are really “in Christ.”

Simply attending church, even regularly, will not save anyone! You can be in church all your life and still die and go to hell. You can even be heavily involved in the work of your church and go to hell. Jesus is the only means of eternal salvation.

Jesus declared: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). So, before we can truly become a part of His church, we must become a part of Him by totally surrendering our lives over to Him.

Then, we can move forward with an understanding of our purpose and His plan for our lives. We can grab ahold of His final words to us and run with them. We can join the final movement with the instruction of the Lord directed at us that commands us to: “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Once the true power of the Spirit of God gets into us, we discover quickly that simply being saved and waiting will never do. We find ourselves compelled to stretch our wings and to share Jesus with the masses all around us.

The rapture is coming and that thought should compel us to action rather than creating a spirit within us that simply desires to sit and wait. As Paul so confidently assures us: “the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

The rapture and the time of great tribulation are rapidly closing in. This thought is meant to motivate us to action not relaxation. While we can certainly find it relaxing to rest in the promise of eternity with our Lord; God’s plan is for you and me to be reaching out and attempting to rescue those who are perishing without Jesus.

Paul continues in the Thessalonian passage with further instruction for the believer in this most critical hour. He warns us to “be on your guard…Stay alert and be clearheaded” (v. 6). Paul encourages us to utilize this time to “encourage each other and build each other up…to warn those who are lazy…take tender care of those who are weak…hold onto what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil…be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again” (vv. 11, 14, 21-23).

Saved and waiting will never do. Paul is careful to warn believers of their responsibility to share Jesus by reminding us of the coming judgment of Lord based upon our action or inaction. As he says in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11: “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.”

The door to salvation stands open and ready to receive all who will believe today. But, the day is coming when that door will close, what are you doing to benefit God’s Kingdom in preparation for eternity yet come? Don’t be satisfied with simply being a church-person; it’s time to become a Jesus-person!