Emphasis Preaching Journal

I walk in the mornings near the hospital. Sometimes I walk early and sometimes a little later. In my various times beside the hospital's parking lot, I've noticed a pattern. Cars that arrive ten to fifteen minutes before 7 a.m. drive fairly slowly into the lot. Cars that arrive five minutes before 7 a.m. arrive faster, and those at two minutes before 7 a.m. often rush recklessly into the lot. The pattern is repeated for the 8 a.m. shift: slower before the hour and faster the nearer people are to being late for work.

Early Christians lived with a sense of time running out. They saw evidence that the world was passing away. The clock was ticking down to zero. The world didn't end exactly as they expected, but their advice for how to live in this soon-ending world is still valid. They didn't become more reckless but more faithful in living for Jesus Christ.