Since Jesus Christ is coming soon, the question that we need to consider is: how then should I live? Well you know, this question was answered by Peter in 1Peter 4: 7. Peter said, "But the end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers." The word 'serious' simply means to be sober. In other words, in the light of our Lord's imminent return, we must keep a level head. We must be balanced - we shouldn't fly into extremes when it comes to the return of the Lord. And this is important because, you know, when it comes to the Lord's return, people tend to go to extremes. Some say, "Well, it's been 2,000 years and Jesus has not yet come back, what makes you think He's coming so soon?" As a result, they sit upon the fence of spiritual inactivity, twiddling their thumbs with no urgency, no expectancy; simply watching life go by. And then others get so excited about the Lord's return that they become wild-eyed fanatics. They can talk about nothing else. Eventually they follow some prophetic guru who dates the Lord's return, and before you know it, they drop out of life, they sell their possessions, and they wait for the Lord to come. In fact, this has just recently happened.

A man by the name of Harold Camping, a Family Radio host in California predicted that on May the 21st, 2011, that Jesus Christ would come again, and 200 million Christians would be raptured, the earth would soon be devastated by a series of terrible earthquakes - well guess what: it did not happen as he predicted. But thousands of people believed that it would happen. In fact, many quit their jobs, abandoned their families, sold their material possessions; some budgeted their money to last up to May the 21st, others like Robert Fitzpatrick emptied his savings account of 140,000 dollars to put up flyers and billboards announcing the return of the Lord. It's interesting that this was not the first time that Mr. Camping predicted the Lord's return. He did so on September 1994, and when the Lord did not return, he said that he made a mathematical error and he recalculated that day to be May the 21st, 2011. By the way, when the Lord did not return on May the 21st, 2011, Mr. Camping said that he mis-calculated, that he made a mathematical error; he has recalculated, and according to Mr. Camping, the Lord was to return on October the 21st, 2011. Well here we are, and we are still earth-bound.

You see, Jesus warned us of such wild-eyed fanaticism, when he said in Matthew 25: 13, He said, "Watch." (In other words keep a level head.) He says, "For you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." And friends, in the light of our Lord's imminent return, God wants us to avoid extremes. He wants us to live with urgency and expectancy; but He wants us to stay focused and to stay faithful to what He has called us to do. And my prayer is this: that in the light of the Lord's imminent return, the Spirit of God will take the Word of God and change us with it today.

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