Idleness is the devil’s workshop, but so is busyness if, while we are busy here and there, we fail in our main responsibility. “And as they servant was busy there and there, he was gone…” (I Kings 20:40).
Author: Vance Havner
Devotion of the Day
Can You Read Signs?
O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
Matthew 16:3
We must have another sort of discernment if, like the children of Issachar, we are to have understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. If we can escape from all the wrangling and simple read our new Testaments, we can recover a clear view of what lies ahead: civilization a decaying carcass awaiting the vultures, anarchy in the world, apostasy in the professing church, apathy even among true believers. Beyond that, the final showdown between Christ and Antichrist, God who became man and the man who will claim to be God; Armageddon, the final world conflict, and the Appearing of our Lord.
There is no denying that the early Christians, while they lived and learned, also looked for Jesus to return any day. But Constantine became a professed believer and Augustine envisioned his City of God, and sine then we have tried to build here the Kingdom instead of bringing back the King.
And do not forget that the man who says there are no “signs” is himself a sign! (II Peter 3:3,4).