Every believer, no matter your age, should be living the Christian life with a great sense of urgency because no one knows when it will all be over.
Now, take a moment and read I Peter 4:7-11.
The first phrase – ‘The end of all things is at hand’ – should remind us that our lives need to be kingdom focused and lived with a great sense of urgency because the second coming of Christ is near or imminent. Many are living life overwhelmed and unfocused. This passage is a great reminder of how we should be living.
Let me go back a bit. In I Peter 1:1 – 4:6, Peter has been trying to help his readers grasp the idea of what it looks like to live out the Christian life. He has covered subjects like being born again to live in hope, a call to be holy, submitting to authorities and how husbands and wives should live.
In a dramatic change, he moves to the phrase that we talked about in the last paragraph. It’s Peter’s way of letting his readers know why the way they live is important. We want to point people to Jesus in how we live. He encourages us to be self-controlled and sober minded so that we can eliminate the distractions around us and keep an eternal perspective and pray focused prayers.
He then delivers three keys to living the Christian life with urgency:
- Love one another earnestly/fervently
- Show hospitality without grumbling
- Use your spiritual gifts to serve others
These three things put action to the prayers that we are praying.
With all that we have going on around us, why would we choose to live our lives with a sense of kingdom urgency? Take a look at verse 11: “whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
We live this way because it brings glory to God. That should be our focus as we get up every morning. The end is near…no, we do not know the specific time frame, but it could be soon. My prayer for you and me is that 2020 would be a year that we are reminded daily of the urgency of living a kingdom focused life for the glory of our Father in heaven.