^‘4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ Matthew 24:4-8

Aren’t you relieved that the power of life and death isn’t in your hands? I know that sometimes you may want it to be, for example when the bus driver pulls off from the stop when he can see you running for the bus. Or when you order something online and it comes mashed up with no return address. The list could go on.

Only today after reading about the Stockholm truck attack suspect who confessed to his deed, I felt a rush of injustice sweep over me and questions like; whilst I do not condone killing, if he felt so upset over an issue then why didn’t he just kill himself? Why kill innocent people who just happened to be passers-by? This world is really getting to be an unsafe place regardless of the country you find yourself living in.

When you read stories like that then other stories like the boy who committed suicide because his ‘girlfriend’ pretended to fake her own death as a prank, you have to despair. He was only 11.

The bad news is that things are going to get worse before they get better. Matthew 24:8 reminds us that ‘All these are the beginning of sorrows.’ But we are not to lose heart, as the last part of John 16:33 states clearly ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’

Jesus has already won the battle, be of good cheer. Tell someone of God’s love today and help to spread the good news of his soon coming.

Wintley Phipps sings ‘Jesus is coming again.’ Click on the picture to listen.