The End Of The World As We Know It

By Pastor Vinnie MacIsaac

The 80’s Pop band, R.E.M., sang, “ It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.”[i] And that lyric has been stuck in my head since the Coronavirus (COVID-19) story broke. Now, I don’t know when you are reading this, but I wrote this on Sunday, March 15^th, 4 days before my 50^th birthday[ii]. But, what I do know is that this blog will be read over and over into the future because it is not the end of the world… Yet.

Ironically 80’s Pop band R.E.M. also sang, “That’s me in the corner. That’s me in the spotlight. Losing my religion. Trying to keep up with you.”[iii] And that is what some people are doing, they are losing their religion, in so many ways. Some are paralyzed by fear. Some really fear this could be the end of the world. And frankly, as I watch whole nations come to their knees and go into lockdown mode I really can’t blame them for that fear. Others are all in… for themselves! Seriously, what is it with the toilet paper hoarding!!! Others are walking around in self-made hazmat suits made from rubber gloves, a coat, and facemasks. And even worse, others dove off the stupid, and reckless cliff, of believing it is all a conspiracy theory or some kind of political game one side is playing with the other. This line of reason perhaps bothers me the most. Because it is careless, and people buying into this point of view are putting real lives at risk! I just want to scream at them to “shut up before they get someone they know killed!” Here’s a clue, if your political bias starts putting people at risk, it is not your political side but you who are unhinged! Lastly, there are those who use this as an excuse to be a racist.[iv] No, this is not a Chinese or Asian disease, it is a human global disease! One, on-air, TV Morning News show actually had the gall to demand an apology from China![v]

Here is my point, while it is not the end of the world, it is terrifying. And the way people are responding right now, as I write this, is exactly the way they will respond when the world really does come to the end crisis before Jesus returns. STOP… and evaluate your response. Jesus is calling you to use this moment to check yourself. And ask, if this is how I act now, how will I deal with the grand end of the world events painted in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and the books of Daniel and Revelation? Just as a high fever is a serious sign of COVID-19, a high unhinged emotional fever is a sign of a spiritual virus. Jesus is giving you this chance to turn to Him and learn to overcome. Remember, the Apostle Paul says that those who can’t control their outbursts, use hate, and are selfish, are in serious danger of by-passing the Kingdom, but those who have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness are living in the Spirit.[vi]

God is calling you to a Non-Anxious Presence. What is a non-anxious presence? It is living in the Christian reality that God is sovereign. He is King. Even more so, He is God and accepting we are not. And if we are not God we don’t need to control everything, understand everything, and or even to ascribe blame to everything because God’s got it, and how He ultimately deals with it, is His. The serenity prayer describes a non-anxious presence in action this way:

“God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time,

enjoying one moment at a time;

accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;

taking, as Jesus did,

this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it;

trusting that You will make all things right

if I surrender to Your will;

so that I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.”[vii]