1 Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; 2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. —2 Thessalonians 3:1-3, NASBIf we desire to depart this world and be with Christ, then we need to ask Him to allow us to spread His word rapidly throughout the world. He wants us to ask Him for that (see Matt. 9:37), but I don’t think we can just expect that He will enable us to do that if we don’t ask. As a brother reminded me last night, Jesus said (Matt 24:14, NASB), “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” If we want the end to come, let’s not sit around and wait for it, but let’s do our part (while God does His) to make it happen. This is not to say that we control the timing of the end, just that we have a part to play.
God uses people who are willing and have a heart to accomplish His work (see Isaiah 6:7-9 for example). We might as well ask Him to use us, our families, and our friends, because there is no greater joy than knowing you have spent your life well, pleasing the Master. He promises to go with us (Matt. 28:20), to strengthen us (v. 3), and to provide for us (Matt. 6:33). There is no safer or better or more satisfying thing that we can aspire to do with our lives, than to devote them to the spread of the gospel, whatever that looks like. However, it doesn’t look like boredom, greed, laziness, or the pursuit of riches and pleasure (Luke 8:14).
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