This week I absently flipped on the television one day and, just like you, was horrified at what I saw. Images of people fleeing buildings, police officers, sirens, emergency lights. Paris. And the earthquake in Japan, the hurricane in Mexico, the simultaneous drought and flooding in Africa. Our world changed. The earth is indeed groaning for the return of Christ.

The question for followers of Jesus is, what do we do now? In Hebrews 12:1, Paul tells us to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”. Never has there been a more appropriate time to do exactly this.

This is the time to look carefully and prayerfully at our lives and see what can we “throw off” that would hinder us from living lives that matter in eternity. See your neighbor’s kids playing in the driveway as your family drives to church? Today is the day to ask their parents if you can bring them to church with you. See the single mom next door? Bringing her a meal and inviting her to the Bible study you host might make all the difference. The military family that just got transferred to your town and don’t know a single person? Could they join your family for Thanksgiving dinner this year? Inconvenient? Yes. A little awkward? Maybe. Throw those feelings off and do it anyway. Because Jesus is coming soon, and people need to know Him. Showing people the love, justice and mercy of Christ is the race marked out for us. It’s all that matters. Let go of everything else and do that well.