Still doomsday predictions have abounded in the past, and no doubt will continue to abound in the future. An old high-school fren commented that even tho he woke up on 22.12.2012 to find he was still alive, the hoax did make him appreciate life and this world a little bit more. Cynics and skeptics on the other hand would have wagged their fingers and tongues delightedly to find yet another reason to disbelieve and probably throw another party to celebrate life like there is no tomorrow.
At the risk of being accused as one of those doomsday prophets, I had to tell my on-line frens that to me, it wasn't a hoax. After all, everything has a beginning and an end. Movies, books, events. Seasons come, seasons go, the sun rises and sets. So why should we assume that this world will go on forever? The world will end one day; it's only a matter of when. I believe it not because of some mind-blowing scientific/astronomic evidence that a comet is gonna drop out of the sky and pulverize entire cities (I think they say the next big one is already heading our way and should make it to earth by late 2013) or some humanistic theory that planet earth can't sustain life anymore the way we are raping, abusing, misusing and just plain messing it up (which is true and logical anyway). I believe it becoz God's Word can't be wrong. Do I have proof? Nah. But I have learnt what can't be 'proven' according to human criteria doesn't mean it ain't true. There is only 1 irrefutable way to prove the end of the world anyhow - when it happens. If it doesn't happen, well, so I have believed in error and you can call me a deluded fool. But if it does happen, who then is the fool for not believing?
To some I guess it makes no difference. Whether or not the world ends , our 'job' is just to live life well whilst we still draw breath on this earth. And that's absolutely as it should be. I still remember an ex-colleague of mine from my corporate days trying to console me as I was struggling to accept my husband's cancer. He was like my husband, young in the prime of life, and he too had cancer. He said, "It's not the number of years we live, it's how well we live that matters." But what does it mean to 'live well'?
At one time, to me living well meant having a secure job, loving relationships, minimum stress and maximum pleasure. Nothing wrong with that, I might say. But add God to the equation and my perspectives about a life 'well-lived' changed. For one, He says He's got plans to prosper and never to harm me. The only catch is His idea of prosperity and harm differs greatly from mine. I would like power to change others, to change the world into a better place, but instead He gives me power to change myself. And I am learning daily that my Father in heaven really does know best. He is the author of this story- book entitled my life, and if I let Him, He will complete it well as only He knows how. The times I have snatched the pen out of His hands and insisted on writing my own version of life have only led me down paths I have oft regretted. But He is ever gracious, every time anytime I realize my folly, He simply welcomes me back and nudges me back to the right path again, onward to the final destination. Every journey must have a destination after all; else we would just be running around in circles. So too with this journey called life.
The final destination is the be all and end all of existence itself. But life's final destination isn't just death, as the movie of that title portrayed it. If it were, then there is really not much point in life, no matter how well- meaning we try to live it, is there? If all that awaits the human being is to return from ashes to ashes, dust to dust, however we live this life is gonna end up zilch anyway since everyone is just going to rot eaten up by maggots end of the day. Where is the significance of life in that?
God says there is more than this life on earth, so much more, if we care to know it. God talks of eternity, something that's totally alien to a human mind which can only measure time in finite seconds, minutes, hours, days or years. That's why the wisest king on earth wistfully pens, "He has set eternity into the hearts of man, yet they cannot understand what God has done from beginning to end "(Ecc. 3:11) When we live with eternity in sight, we see this earthly life quite differently. Living well becomes not just living as best we can, doing as much good as we can, (that's only the barest minimum), hoping that somehow if there is a heaven, we will make it there on our best self-effort. In a world where there's no guarantee of anything, God's guarantee of eternity stands firm, planted on a cross on a hill-top called Calvary, in a Man named Jesus who died sealing it as a done deal. It isn't a mere wishy-washy, cross your fingers kind of hope. It's a certainty born out of knowing and believing a God we can trust, becoz He has already proven His love for us, for "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life" (John 15:13).
Thankfully, His death wasn't the end; if it was, then Christianity would just be a dead religion with a dead God. When Jesus rose from the dead, He opened the door to eternity for those who would take His hand and walk through it. That's the final destination of those who are willing to believe. What a fantastic finale to a life lived well on earth - preparing for an even better life in the world to come. In the words of the apostle Peter, " Since everything will be destroyed.... what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming . But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:11-13). Crazy fella, how can he want to 'speed up' the end of the world?? I guess becoz he's caught the vision of a glorious eternity, grounded in the one and only, true and living God. Call him (and I) crazy, but that's a vision which takes away every fear, even as another new year rolls in.....
I dunno if there will be anybody around to give out a million bucks to the person who correctly answers the question when the world will end. But there is another much more pressing question that needs to be answered right now by all of us, since the prize is the inestimable cost of our soul - on which side of eternity are we standing - with or without God?
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away... And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'.... Revelation 21:1,3-4
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