Episode 350: I’m Talkin…End

I’m Talking, episode 350 for December 29th, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talking microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking end.

So I don’t think end needs a definition.

We all know what that means.

It means the completion of something or the stopping of something.

And it seems fitting as we come to the end of another year that always seems to go by faster and faster, the older I get.

But the thing is about end is that it can be good and it can be bad.

And I think of things that, you know, I heard growing up that I don’t know, maybe we still say them, but it seemed like maybe my parents, maybe my grandparents said it more.

But like, um, when, when a child would be sad because the end of something happened, the parent might say, all good things come to an end or must come to an end.

Is that how it goes?

Or the other thing is that at the end of something, someone might say, all’s well, that ends well.

What does that mean?

Well, it means when something comes to the end and it does it well, then everyone is happy about it.

You know, maybe at the end of a sporting event where your team wins, then all’s well, that ends well, even in the midst of the event, there might have been strife and struggle and competition, but the end is what happened and happened well.

And the reality is, is that end is going to happen, sometimes good, as I said, sometimes bad, sometimes finally, and that means for all of us, life will end at some point.

And therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

As Christians, we are told in the Bible, which we believe to be the word of God, that the end is going to happen, that not everyone necessarily will die before the return of Christ, but at some point, the end is coming to where choices of what we do will have been made, what we do with our life, what we have done with our relationships, what we have done with our career, those choices will have been made and the end will come to all of those.

And I don’t want to be too morbid here at the end of the year, because as Christians, we know that on the other side of the end of us is the beginning of eternity with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So how do we manage things when they come to an end?

Well, as Christians, it says we don’t grieve as those without hope.

That’s what the scriptures say, because we know who is in control.

So while we do mourn for those things that end, whether it’s people coming to the end of their life, whether it’s events that come to an end, whether at the end of a Christmas celebration, families have to go separate ways, those things are sad, but we don’t mourn as those without hope.

We recognize that those of us who call ourselves Christians, who gather as families, either as families of believers or families of blood, but still believers, we know that we are going to see them again, maybe not in this life, but we will spend eternity with our loved ones.

And the other thing that we know is there are no second chances.

So when things come to an end, that’s the end.

And you’ve seen that all through your life.

And the fact is that when we make a choice not to follow Jesus Christ, then we have made a choice, even though it feels like maybe a choice has not been made.

We just chose, we didn’t choose to follow Him, but we didn’t choose to not follow Him.

But there isn’t a second chance at the end of our life.

That is a decision that has to be made so that you can spend eternity in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

And that’s the thing, that’s the story, that’s the, I’m trying to think of the right word that Christians hold onto.

It’s the hope, it’s the future, it’s the glory that we get because we have made the choice to be Christians.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.