The Coming of Jesus

Someone posted the following message on one of the Chrisitian forums:

Jesus is not coming today,
tomorrow, this week,
or this year.
It MUST be true, otherwise most of us wouldn't be acting the way we do. Not convinced? Let's look at our behavior from another angle. Consider this question:

if Jesus were coming back today
what would you do differently?
The next question is even tougher. If you answered the previous question and determined there was at least one thing you would do differently,

"Why aren't you doing it?"
For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Matthew 24:38-39

While I agree with Dave's assessments and his call to action, I'm not sure if his message would motivate the correct action. I suspect that people would read it and take it as a call to shape up our own lives, be a better person: a very self-focused response.

I don't believe that Jesus would want that type of response. I believe that Jesus would want us to focus on HIS call to action.

Here is my response:

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

Until the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world and there are believers from every nation, tribe, people and language, Jesus will not be returning.

A better question would be: Do you really want Jesus to return? Do you pray "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" and really mean it?

If so, what are you doing to make it possible? i.e., To fulfill the condition: This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world so that it is heard by those from every nation, tribe, people and language.

For the average American believer, the answer is VERY LITTLE.

How much does the American Church invest in overseas cross-cultural evangelism?

(Normally, I would use the word "missions", but these days this term no longer applies just to overseas cross-cultural evangelism; often it also includes a lot of domestic ministries).

Let's add some perspective context to that question.

If you take how much American Christians spend on Christmas presents for self, family, and friends and compare it with what the American Church invests in overseas cross-cultural evangelism, what do you think is the ratio?

Normally, I don't like to talk about dollars and cents because I believe in doing what Jesus models: one-to-one contact. I only mentioned it because what our checkbook ledger says reflects our priorities.

Sadly, our priorities currently say that we are more focused on our present day "shiny little objects" than the magnificent glories that are yet to come.

Do we want to be near-sighted scavenging crows or do we want to be eagles that soar to the sky?