“Living on the edge” is considered to be adventurous or dangerous, depending on your perspective. The person on the edge is close to peril. In fact, we are all living there!
Every person alive is at this moment living on the edge of eternity. At any moment we may be face to face with a holy God. While such a prospect is a thrilling one for those who love Christ, it is a fearful thought for those who are not right with Him. Either way, the truth of our frailty and the nearness of eternity should serve as a motivator for us all.
When I ask people to tell me their favorite book of the Bible the one I hear most often is the book of Revelation. Not because people understand it, but because everyone is intrigued by the end of time as we know it. Even Hollywood has gotten consumed with end of the world themes. When we talk about eternity and it fails to affect the way we live today we have entirely missed the point!
Prophecy should make us desire purity. “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). The last days should cause us to love Jesus more. “Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). End time truth must be more than spectacular – it must be practical! We do not study to know more, but to become more like Christ.
In the canon of Scripture the one chapter book of Jude is placed just before the last book of the Bible. While Revelation is where we are going, Jude is where we are living. This little book is a vivid description of our current age and specific as to what our responsibility is as we live on the edge of eternity. Applying the principles in Jude will help you get ready to see Jesus!
For that reason we are going to take the entire month of June and study this amazing 25 verse book. I hope you will join us as we journey through Jude. Our new Enjoying The Journey series begins on Monday. Encourage others to listen with you to these special episodes – “On The Edge Of Eternity.”
With a slightly different twist to your words regarding Living On The Edge, one young man told me that he goes sky diving, and goes scuba diving, and goes bungy jumping because he “wants that near death experience”. I thought to myself: Most Christians have that near death experience every day or every week of their lives! That is, they go to the altar to surrender their lives, or they rededicate their lives to Christ, or they get on their knees to die to self…only to get up from the altar. They almost surrendered; they almost rededicated; they almost died
–only to (sadly!) get off the altar and go about life with ‘business as usual’. Far too many Christians are ‘after that near death experience’…but never actually achieve it! 🙁
Very true!