THE LOOMING CHAOS
It came like a fade-in scene in a movie. This is not just a movie but a real life entanglement. Fear has seized the best part of us – the coronavirus ravaging nations, governments, businesses, religious institutions, cultures, academia, socials and global markets. Now, even couples suspect one another, not for infidelity but for the virus.
Sunday service at church wore an awkward look; there was no usual embrace amongst the brethren, congregants kept space from one another. I like the prayer of agreement where you join hands with a partner and vibrate your heart out. But last Sunday in Akwa Ibom State saw a dull moment. It was almost impossible to clap hands during chorus segment; who knows the ‘virus inflected hand’ could puff out the dreaded diseases, as some amateur analysts would suggest.
As a pastor, it was tougher motivating members to pray, sing and worship under the cloud of fear. Before the sermon, I had to reiterate the ‘don’ts’ to avoid getting infected. Oh God, how long?
Now, if we so squirm because of this weak virus that washing hands with water could clear it, imagine what will happen at the day of reckoning! The world should view this virus as a rehearsal for the looming chaos of the last day.
Thank God that we could self-isolate and and hide away in a safe place to avoid the virus. But at the last day, no one will be able to get any safe net except the ‘taken-away’.
The looming chaos! The religious and philosophical call it doomsday. Theologians term it judgment day but Christ Himself refered to it as ‘that day.’ This is how He described it in Luke 21:34 “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
On that day, chaos that will unfold will happen in a flash, in fact it will be a spiral of chaos, worse than harmattan swirling storms. On that day, the media will be overwhelmed and subdued that they won’t be able to report the breaking news; the happenings will be too spontaneous to track. Money will be meaningless.
Giving a clue on how the unfolding chaos will be like, Jesus said in Matthew 24:40 -41 “At that time, two people will be in the field. One will be taken, and one will be left behind. Two women will be grinding grain at the mill. One will be taken, and one will be left behind.”
Now, how do you think that day will look like? Peaceful and well-organized? Not at all! For anyone who will be caught in the inferno of that day, it will be most regrettable.
On that day, food and drink, women and merriment will be useless. The seas, mountains, valleys, underground bunkers will fail to isolate anyone. Choice mansions, cars will lay empty as nobody will desire them. Christians and non-Christians left behind will scamper for cover to no avail. They will desire death to no avail.
What a day!
The present chaos should remind us that ‘that day’ is coming. How prepared are we to avoid getting caught in the cauldron of that day? I repeat Mathew 22:24 in a different version, “But give attention to yourselves, for fear that your hearts become over-full of the pleasures of food and wine, and the cares of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly, and take you as in a net.”
Time to prepare against the looming chaos is now. Run to Jesus now and stay safe.
