Too Busy To......

Tony Hauck

Church on the Rock - Melbourne

Life just keeps getting busier.  It seems every few months Rachel and I have to re-evaluate and prioritize how we’re spending our time.  And all the technology that is supposed to increase efficiency just adds things we can do, making our lives even busier.  I wonder how frenetic the pace of our lives would appear to someone of an earlier generation.  I fear we’ve acclimated gradually without realizing what we’re sacrificing.  And I suspect this isn’t just natural progression, but part of a sinister plot.

Afraid I’ve become a weird conspiracy theorist?  Well don’t get me wrong.  I love technology as much as the next guy, and see its value toward advancing God’s kingdom.  The question is, are we using these tools, or being controlled by them?

The book of Daniel finishes with a description of the End Times, and one line has always stood out to me.  “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”  (Dan 12:4)  This statement is a little cryptic, so I won’t be dogmatic, but I think part of the enemies plan is just to keep us too busy to focus on the truly important things in our lives.

If I’m right, the End Time Church must resist being swept away with the pace of the world, because when we’re too busy, the first thing we sacrifice is usually our intimacy with God.

So have you evaluated how you’re spending your time lately?

Slow Down

Tony Hauck

Church on the Rock - Melbourne

Daniel 12:4 has always been an interesting verse to me. It says that in the end times “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”. Can you think of a more apt description of our hectic media driven lives? I don’t think this kind of activity and pursuit of knowledge is a good thing. I think it’s a distraction that will keep many from seeing God.

Have you ever watched a basketball game where the announcer said something like, “they’re letting the other team get them off their pace?” If you can get a team to play at your rhythm, instead of their own pace, you have a better chance of controlling the game.

So I encourage you, don’t get caught up running at the pace the world is setting. Walking with Jesus means walking at His pace, and it isn’t hectic. You’ll have to fight to simplify your life. You’ll have to cut out good things to make room for the best things. But you’ll also find it easier to obey Colossians 3:15. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

You Are Here

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock - Melbourne

I was pondering three passages that describe the last days or beginning of sorrows. Understand that this isn’t the time of great tribulation spoken of in Revelation, but what immediately precedes that time, so even if you’re pre-trib, no one escapes these events. You can read them for yourself (Mt 14:4-12, 2 Tim 3:1-5, 2 Pe 3:3), but I’ll give you a short list of what to expect; deception, wars, famine, earthquakes, tribulation, martyrdom, hatred, offense, lawlessness, cold love, scoffers, lustful, self love, proud, disobedient, no self control, brutal, haughty, lovers of pleasure, haters of good, having a form of godliness but without power.

Sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? And that’s what I was thinking about, how bad it’s going to get, when God pulled me up short with one statement. He said, “You’re already in the beginning of sorrows now.”

My first thought was, “this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be”. But my immediate second thought was, “how desensitized to sin have I become that I’m living in the last days, don’t even recognize it, or think it’s that bad?”