My calling from God urges me to say this: from the earliest days of the Church believers were convinced that the signs of the times pointed to the return of Jesus in short order.

In these days people are talking about the end of the world because of all the things that are happening. The end, however, has always been near.

Right now we have a virus that is sweeping across the whole world. There are locusts in east Africa and southern Asia. Climate change is turning the weather systems inside out. The civil war in Syria has focussed military/political attention into one area by superpowers and major powers and evil powers. Afghanistan and Iraq continue to demonstrate epic confrontation between major world views concerning freedom and repression.

Yet throughout history there have been devastating diseases, natural calamities, war and strife.

Church, believers in Jesus, what emerges now is so stark and vivid that God could use this to shake up your life of complacency, to awaken those half-asleep and barely conscious of the needs in the world and to stir into marching formation the army called to break down the walls of hell.

The end of the world is closer than it was 2,000 years ago, but is this the moment it all falls into place?

That is irrelevant. Followers of Christ have always been on the duty roster. Perhaps those who stand at the cross of the crucified and risen Saviour can be stirred into a life of lavishly loving our neighbour and caring for others above our own comfort.

That won’t cure Covid-19 or cool the climate, but it would have eternal consequences. Let God use this moment to make your witness public and real.