"OMG! The World is Ending!" by Brandi J. Wardlow

"OMG! The World is Ending!"

I remember the first time I heard about "Covid-19." At the time, I don't even think the name "COVID" was even attached. All I knew was that there was this virus taking China by storm and shutting down the "normal" lifestyle. Each week, I read the headlines. China, Italy, Spain, Europe - all on this sudden lockdown. I would go to the store and pick up just a little more items than usual. In my head, I was preparing for the end of the world.

I would talk with Anthony about our plans. "We're going to Norristown, we're staying with my mom." I kept thinking, 'We have to prepare for this sci-fi Armageddon.' All of my government conspiracies, Martial Law, 5G radiation, Jesus coming back was all circling my forefront. Then, Philadelphia joined the list of areas going on "lockdown." Most evidently, the end of the world was here.

It's been my biggest fear since childhood. Jesus cracking the sky. Trumpets sounding. The war between good and evil. The rapture. I spent that first week on lockdown worried. Filling my head with all forms of worry and anxiety, drowning in the “what if's.” I couldn't believe I was really living in the last days. Like, "God, I was getting married this year. You're really going to end the world?" 

And to be honest, that's precisely what God did or is doing. He is ending the world. While I can't say that we've yet reached the thrillers of Revelations - I can completely acknowledge that the world that we once knew, the world we are desperately waiting to get back to, has actually ended.

If you're anything like me, growing up, you attributed the world ending to that scary Armageddon story in Revelations. But, when you look at the definitions of world - a few things come to mind: a person's life and activities; people, places and things; a stage of human life; or, secular interests and affairs. Thus, eluding to the fact that Earth and world aren't actually aren't synonymous. So, brace yourselves, we may actually have a lot of time left on this place called Earth.

Truthfully, the world doesn't always refer to this ball or rock that we live in. In our beloved Bible, the world often refers to five specific concepts – the physical world (Acts 17:24); the human world (Proverbs 8:27-31); the moral world (John 7:7); the temporal world (Psalm 102:25-27); and, the coming world (John 18:36). Moreover, this world that is allegedly ending is the same world that God and Jesus often command us to stay away from (1 John 2:15-17). That world is ending. 

If we're honest, I can quote the heck out of Romans 12:2. It's one of those scriptures that you can finish in unison with someone. But, for years, I couldn't tell you for the life of me what it meant. Until I version checked it.  

The AMP version states: "And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]." While the MSG version says: "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Context clues suggest a few things:

1.     We’re instructed to not be conformed to this world. Conformed, meaning, to comply or behave accordingly.

2.     Specifically, we’re not supposed to comply or behave accordingly to superficial values and customs. Meaning, our every day, ordinary life. Our hope, identity, our purpose is not supposed to be linked to things like eating, drinking, or even work.  WHAT? Not even our work? Yup, not even our work. God may use our jobs as a vehicle to service Him, but it’s our service to Him that we should conform to.

3.     By not conforming, we are then told to be transformed and progressively changed. Transformed is defined as a dramatic change in form or nature. While progressively means gradually or in stages. Hence, this change should happen throughout time.

4.     The progressive transformation should spark spiritual maturity. Therefore, spiritual maturity, making you fully grown and developed. Which calls for two specific actions. First, embracing what God does for you and being cautious about what the world presents to you.

5.     With spiritual maturity, your mind is renewed. Thus, renewed meaning reestablished. With said reestablishment, you focus on Godly values and attitudes. Such actions cause a change in you that drives an internal shift that is also displayed externally.

6.     Together, this shift and change will bring about proving what the will of God is – all that is acceptable, perfect, and good. A spirit that leads to a discernment that can drive out spiritual immaturity.

“Well, Brandi, I thought my membership in Christianity took care of that? Aren’t I already spiritually mature?”

Well, let’s reference a few people to find out. Remember our good friend, Job? He has his own book in the Bible. God boasted about Job’s faithfulness to Him to Satan. But, Satan challenged God by saying, “He’s only faithful because of your good works.” So, God told Satan, mess with him, but don’t touch him. What happened next? Job lost it all – his family, his friends, his work, and his land. We applaud Job at the end because ultimately, his faith proved to be consistent but not without having some hard, self-defeating moments with God.

How about our good friend David? He authored some of our most favorite Psalms. He’s also known for being that small kid that defeated the giant Goliath. But, there’s this one particular scripture, Psalm 13, where David had to have a heart to heart with God. Notably, David downright questions God and says, “How long God will you forget me?”

I bring these two beloved examples to our discussion about the world ending for two specific measurements of spiritual maturity. Let’s be honest, Job’s world ended. He lost loved ones. He was out of work. People turned their back on him. Everything that Job once lived for, everything he put his faith in vanished. Many of us are mourning and will mourn the loss of loved ones, some of us will or already have contracted the virus, many of us are filing for employment because we’re not essential. We’ve spent thousands for weddings that we may not have this year. Some of us lost money on vacations that we won’t pleasurably have. Our worlds have ended. All of us seem to be mourning are temporal world that is now gone. And like David, we’re sitting here wondering “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”

We all know there’s a point in Job’s story where Job and God have their heart to heart. Job insists on questioning God’s plans, and God insists on letting God know that we, humans, have no idea about His actual work as God (Job 40 and 41). However, as always, I love The MSG, and its titling of the chapters. At some point, God’s part of the conversation is titled “I Run This Universe.” There reaches a point that Job says to God, “I’ll shut up and just listen (Job 40:3).”

How have you shut up and just listened? How have you stopped missing the world that we were never supposed to love and just listened to God’s will?

 While God humbled Job – He’s humbling us. He’s reminding us that He made the Heavens and the Earth, that He gives and He takes away, that He oversees all things under His stars and that it is our job that the world knows about Him. We can’t give God the praise when our mouths are only filled with the desires of returning back to the world that took us away from Him.

While David felt compelled to ask those questions about when God would come back to save him from his troubles, he ended Psalms 13 with praise. Notably, in Psalms 13:5-6, David ends his troubling prayers with, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise for he has been good to me.”

While crying your troubles, have you still given God the praise? Is this unexpected pandemic forcing you to forget all of the problems God has already brought you through?

Is your spirit mature or is He using this time to mature you?

So, the world that we knew has ended. The same world we were told not to be conformed to. However, Romans 12 (The MSG) leaves us with few instructions that can help us navigate this time we’re facing.

1.     It is important not to misinterpret ourselves as people bringing goodness to God. Instead, to remember what it is that He has and is doing for us (Romans 12:3).

2.     Christians are a part of the body of Christ, and we all serve with specific functions. This is the perfect time to use our God-given gifts to continue to support the body of Christ.  (Romans 12:4-5).

3.     Be mindful of how we use our gifts. Our gifts are not supposed to support any hidden agenda or any ulterior motives. We must offer our gifts with gratitude (Romans 12:6-8).

4.     We should give love from the depths of our soul and run passionately away from the wrongs of this world (Romans 12:9-10).

5.     Hard times should not tire us or prevent us from eagerly obeying His word. The harder it gets, the more love we should place into this world (Romans 12:11-13).

6.     Pray for our enemies, cherish our loves, and don’t think more of ourselves than we ought to (Romans 12:14-16).

7.     Always seek the good in everyone. Ignore your flesh and leave the rest for God to handle (Romans 12:17-19).

8.     Don’t let evil and the dangers of this world get the best of you (Romans 12:20-21).

1 John 2 also supplies encouragement for a time like this. Notably, Christians, this is OUR time. This is our time to show the true and living God. We know Him, we have a relationship with Him, and we must show God in a time where it seems that God has forgotten us. Intercession is what will continuously drive all of us, believers and non-believers alike, through these hard times.

I pray for your safety, your strength, and your health. I pray for a covering over your households and a fuel that will keep you driving but won’t burn out. Remember, David went on to be the man after God’s own heart, and Job’s fortunes were restored and doubled.

Our world may have ended, but God’s work will prevail.

With peace,

Brandi

Facebook: Brandi Janay

Instagram: B.Wardlow

Twitter: Bee_Wardlow