This week, until 6 December, you can purchase Daily Prayer 2 from Kevin Mayhew Ltd at a 10 per cent discount, using the code DAILYPRAYER10 when ordering the title from the company’s website. With the book normally retailing at £19.99, that’s a saving of £2. Just type the code into the relevant box at the online checkout between the dates given.
Meanwhile, here’s the fourth of the sessions I’ll be posting this week from the book, to run alongside this promotion.
End times?
Read
Unlike heaven and earth, which will end, my words will never pass away. But as to the day or hour that this world will end, nobody except the Father knows it, not even the angels in heaven or the Son. Mark 13:31, 32
Ponder
I’m in a hurry to write today for, according to a preacher from Oakland, California, the end of the world is just around the corner: to be exact, tomorrow at 6pm. Actually, of course, I’m not in a hurry at all, for I pay no credence whatsoever to this kind of drivel. People have been predicting the end of the world with depressing regularity since time immemorial, and no doubt they will continue to do so for years to come, which is all very strange when you consider the words of Jesus above, in which he makes it quite clear that nobody but God knows when the end times will be. Elsewhere, he stresses that we should not concern ourselves with such things, but instead get on with the daily business of life and service.
Certainly we are called to look forward to his coming again and to ensure that we are ready to greet him when he does. But when that will be, where and how it will happen, what it will involve and so forth are not for us to concern ourselves with. What Jesus was saying to his disciples is that, come what may, we must keep faith. Heaven and earth may pass away, and so too may we, but though this life may end, our hope is in things unseen, a kingdom beyond this world. That’s what matters: faith in the future shaping the present, so that instead of fretting about what’s to come we live now as he would wish. Don’t brood on tomorrow. Rejoice today, and trust in him. We may pass on before he comes, but, like his words, we will never pass away.
Ask yourself
What do you make of Jesus’ words concerning his return? How do you respond to predictions concerning the imminent end of the world? In what ways does your hope for the future shape your experience of the present?
Pray
Almighty God, thank you for giving me joy in the present and hope for the future; for the sure and certain knowledge that your love not only surrounds me now, but will continue to do so for all eternity, nothing in heaven or earth, life or death, being able to separate me from it. Deepen my faith in everything you hold in store, and may that assurance shape every aspect of who and what I am. Teach me to trust, serve and live for you, today and always. Amen.
Remember
Take care, be vigilant, for none of you knows when the hour will come. What I tell you, I tell all: stay awake. Mark 13:33, 37
Close
Thank you, Lord, that your word, your promises, your love and the life you offer to all endure for ever, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Amen.