Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:8 (ESV)

Every day another shoe seems to drop. Emotionally, like the men with the Apostle Paul on the boat bound for shipwreck, all hope for things to improve is jettisoned. Yet we must stay on what’s left of the vessel to survive. Acts 27:13-44

Everyone seems to say it must get much worse for the Lord to return, but that thought is unbiblical. His return has been imminent since the day he left. Reading through prophecy we do get a sense that conditions for his return are ripe, and that they are no longer confined to pockets of the earth but are global. Communication is global. The “pandemic” is global. Chaos is global. Etc. And when the last vestige of good in the world is teetering on the edge of self-destruction, the scenarios for the Lord’s return become way more plausible.

Whatever the case, our options for hope have really been reduced to that final day when he takes us out of here. Until then, we don’t bury our head in the sand but live with the expectancy that at any moment he will commence the “end of the world” as we know it.

But we get credit for loving his appearing. It’s all we’ve got.