You ask Elim experts the questions. This month, it’s Pastor Andrew Fadoju of Elim Christian Fellowship, Worthing.
How should we respond to fears about the end of the world?
Fear that the world will end is part of the normal human experience.
Most religions have a doctrine about the end of time, though different from the biblical narrative.
In secular culture, anxieties about the future create deep-rooted fear, especially when the possibilities of those fears start to become real.
People fear nuclear war, climate change, pandemics and artificial intelligence.
And the continual erosion of religious belief panics those with no faith in God.
Followers of Jesus should trust that history is shaped by God and that nothing in our world surprises him.
God has never been caught napping, because the God of the Bible neither slumbers nor sleeps.
Psalms tells us that “the earth belongs to God and everything in it”.
We know that history will conclude when God decides, so rather than live in fear of the state of the world, we should galvanise ourselves to do the mission that Jesus gave us.
As we teach others to obey the commands he has given us, Jesus promises he will be with us always, to the very end of the age.
So don’t fear the future – be mission ready.
How can we live with unanswered questions?
In Deuteronomy we are told that there are some things that are secret which belong to God, but certain things have been given for us and our children to understand (Deuteronomy 29:29).
This text is an indication that there are things that will happen that we’ll have no answers for.
And Hebrews tells us of those who died still believing what God had promised them.
They never received it but only saw it from afar and welcomed it (Hebrews 11:13).
It can sometimes feel like a betrayal of trust when we read things like this.
These believers died not receiving what was promised to them, so what use was the promise? It is interesting, however, to note that they died believing.
They died in faith rather than in doubt or despair.
Unanswered questions are part of our faith journey.
We need to embrace them and realise they don’t change who God is – they challenge us to trust him even when life makes no sense.
How might we grieve the Holy Spirit? (Ephesians 4:30)
The fact that we refer to God’s Spirit as ‘holy’ is an indication of his nature and desires.
The Holy Spirit is a spirit of holiness.
His ways are holy, and his actions are holy.
His work in our lives is to transform us to become like Jesus, who knew no sin.
So, when we engage in things that are contrary to what Scripture teaches, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
Whenever we do not reflect the attitude of Jesus in our lives and to others, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
And whenever we do not acknowledge what the Holy Spirit is doing, or we belittle his work in others or in our community, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit wants us to live a life of faith, to reflect heaven’s heart, not the spirit of this age.
We delight the Holy Spirit when we reflect Jesus, live out God’s truth and keep in unity with what the Holy Spirit is doing in our world.
