In 2016, Pastor David Jeremiah released a book: I Never Thought I’d See the Day! Sounds like something you or I could probably write, now doesn’t it? The times in which we find ourselves living are indeed far different from those of the not-too-distant past. As Bible-believing Christians, however, we should not be taken totally off guard by the state of the world.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT), we read:

You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly.

If that were not found in the Bible, I suspect we could expect to find it in a present-day newspaper. I believe the same could be said about Apostle Peter’s words (2 Peter 3:3): Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days, scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

While I wholeheartedly accept that these forebodings apply to our age, I believe it is also important to keep our times in perspective. Take our political climate for example. The rhetoric seems to be getting more vicious and personal with each election season. Candidates, it seems, are not content to focus on their political differences with their “opponent,” they seem driven to debase, discredit, and belittle them at every opportunity.

In a 2016 column in the Los Angeles Times titled “Lies, insults, and exaggerations: A U.S. presidential campaign tradition,” Alexia Fernandez wrote the following: “The presidential campaign of 1800 gave the American public its first taste of how outrageous and fierce candidates could be in pursuit of the highest office. Thomas Jefferson, who lost the 1796 election against John Adams, campaigned formidably against the incumbent. He paid the editor of the Richmond Examiner to print anti-Federalist and anti-Adams articles and praise his own campaign. Written attacks by Jefferson supporters claimed Adams was a “hideous hermaphrodital character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

Adams’ campaign retaliated, calling Jefferson a “mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”

What’s that expression … “the more things change, the more they stay the same?” And didn’t Solomon tell us That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9, NKJV).

I’m not sure it is much comfort to realize that the world has always been in a mess and we have no right to expect our age to be any different. Be that as it may, how should we as Bible-believing, Christ-following, Holy Spirit-filled Seventh-day Adventists function amidst all the turmoil around us?

I firmly believe that in this age of change and uncertainty people are searching for something solid that they can hold on to today, tomorrow, and all the tomorrows to follow. Thankfully, we have that solid footing that will steer them, and us, in the right direction. People are living in fear these days, and if they do not have a relationship with Jesus, they have every right to be afraid. As believers, however, we know that “God has not given us a spirit of timidity and fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind” (see 2 Timothy 1:7).

This is certainly not a time to water down our deeply held beliefs. Joe Crews, the founder of the Amazing Facts Ministry in his must-read book Creeping Compromise, said that the church always stays a certain distance from the world. The problem he noted is that the further the world gets away from God, the same applies to the church.

This is a time for us to be more determined to truly live out our faith by knowing and claiming God’s promises found in His Word. We should be earnestly praying each day for the Baptism or Infilling of the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us on our journey. This is a time for us to be more bold in our witness and share our faith which can and should serve us well in these troublesome times. All about us are people whose hearts are “failing them from fear” (Luke 21:26). Oswald Chambers put it well when he said, “Let your faith be stronger than your fear.” Again, when our focus is on the condition of the world, dread is a reasonable response. When our focus is on our Lord and Savior, and His anticipated return, however, such a response makes no sense at all.

Some reading this might come away thinking I’m saying we should accept the fact that we cannot change the state of the world and we should just throw up our hands in despair. Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. I do believe we can positively impact our families, churches, and communities. But as for the whole world, I suggest we would be better advised to throw up our hands in prayer.

Richard Neibuhr summed up what I am suggesting in his famous “Serenity Prayer.” Many are familiar with the first verse, but many others do not realize there is a second verse. Apparently, the prayer has appeared in various versions, and even its authorship and date of origin are in question. Nevertheless, I invite you to consider how you might apply it to your life:

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not 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 He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right, if I surrender to His will,

That I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.”

Sounds wise to me. Amen?

Ron Price is a member of the Piñon Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church in Farmington, New Mexico. He has authored three books in his PLAY NICE in Your Sandbox series, created a small group study in conflict management, and is the co-founder of the Institute for Biblical Peacemakers. Email him at: [email protected]