Signs of the end of the age... do they matter?

Key verses

Psalm 57:9-11 - I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples.  For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

Matthew
Matthew 24:15-35 is one of those passages that gets people thinking about the end of the world and Jesus's return.  At one point, this type of prophetic message really interested me as well, and I was curious to know what would usher in the "end times".   I have since learned and come to understand that what is really important is my relationship with God.  It shouldn't matter when the world will end, because regardless of when that is, I'll be striving to get to know God better.  We won't ever get to the point where we'll know God completely, not in this world, but if we're wholeheartedly on the journey of getting to know him and apply his character to our lives, what else is there?

Stick with it

Late post tonight!

Key verse

Isaiah 12:2 - "Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid.  The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

Proverbs

"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil and beatings purge the inmost being." (Proverbs 20:30)  Is this true or is this figurative?  I'm leaning toward the latter because I can't see it being true.

Luke/Hebrews

It's understandable that Jesus' followers thought the end was near.  He kept talking about how the kingdom of God was at hand, and the signs of the end of the age would come.  "... this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." (Luke 21:32)  If they were to be on guard, how much more should we, two thousand years later!  And yet we continually make plans as though we have our entire lives ahead of us.  We've got one foot here in the earthly kingdom and one in God's kingdom.  A great way to apply at least part of today's reading to our lives would be to make sure we are staying true to God, and making sure we don't fall away, like both Luke and Hebrews were saying.