S) "32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left."
Luke 17:32-35 (NASB)
O) Make no mistake, there will be a rapture. I've been hearing some teachings floating around that the rapture was manufactured and not scriptural... I'm just not sure there's another way to interpret these verses*. Looking into the passage, Jesus draws our attention to Lot's wife with a stern warning. When He comes back to get us, if we're lingering, wavering, and ultimately tied to our life here on Earth, there will be a heavy price.
A) I have to be fully submitted to God, invested in Him with every aspect of my life. That will ensure that when He returns, I am immediately able to drop my life on Earth to follow Him to Heaven. This is not, by any means, to say that I am not valuing my life around me. My wife, children... everything about my life is entrusted to Jesus and valued through Him. So, I am able to "leave them behind" because I know that I have properly raised my children in God, so they will also be brought. I am confident that I have strengthened my wife in the LORD, so that she will also be brought. All of my financial, or material gains were only vehicles to further the Gospel, secure my family in Christ, or for trivial leisure. So, when Jesus comes, I am completely ready, because everything is filtered through an eternal perspective in Jesus Christ.
P) Father, everything I have is a gift from You. Even my family is given to me, entrusted to me, as a gift from You, God. Holy Spirit, remind me to have an eternal mindset, that the things in this world around me are temporary, and that it's the people who are eternal. Help me properly invest in relationships with my wife, children, and other family, friends, and loved ones. When that day comes, LORD, strengthen my resolve, God, so that I am not distracted in any way, but I will be focused only on You, and I will be willing to lose my life in order to save it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
* Edit 12/23/2016: I have, in the last year or so, learned a little more about the various views of eschatology. To be clear, there can be no doubt that there is a rapture, but the timing of it, and what exactly the tribulations are that are described in the New Testament, is a little less direct than I always thought. With this particular passage, there is a slightly alternative view, that vv.26-37 are not about the end times, but about the destruction of the temple in 70 AD that followed the invasion/siege of Jerusalem. In either case, the point is still quite valid, that this passage is indeed a warning to be ready, and it's also a promise to those who are (or were) ready.
P) Father, everything I have is a gift from You. Even my family is given to me, entrusted to me, as a gift from You, God. Holy Spirit, remind me to have an eternal mindset, that the things in this world around me are temporary, and that it's the people who are eternal. Help me properly invest in relationships with my wife, children, and other family, friends, and loved ones. When that day comes, LORD, strengthen my resolve, God, so that I am not distracted in any way, but I will be focused only on You, and I will be willing to lose my life in order to save it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
* Edit 12/23/2016: I have, in the last year or so, learned a little more about the various views of eschatology. To be clear, there can be no doubt that there is a rapture, but the timing of it, and what exactly the tribulations are that are described in the New Testament, is a little less direct than I always thought. With this particular passage, there is a slightly alternative view, that vv.26-37 are not about the end times, but about the destruction of the temple in 70 AD that followed the invasion/siege of Jerusalem. In either case, the point is still quite valid, that this passage is indeed a warning to be ready, and it's also a promise to those who are (or were) ready.
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