Troy Hamby

I grew up thinking that Jesus could come back at any moment…in fact, that thought consumed me as a child. I remember when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I was fixated on the rapture and I didn’t want to miss it. So, for about 6 months, I would literally ask forgiveness every 5 minutes just in case I committed some heinous sin at 8 years old. Then, I truly gave my life to Christ at 22 years old, but those fixations on Jesus coming back didn’t go away. It didn’t help that I read all the “Left Behind” books in a matter of a few months…I was rapture obsessed. In some ways, I am glad that I was so immersed in this ‘rapture theology’ because it kept me from backsliding on many occasions but on the other hand, I see that fear is not an enduring motivation to follow Christ.

When I read the Epistles and the book of Acts, I see a group of people that are COMPLETELY obsessed with the return of Jesus. They talked about it, prayed about it, wrote about it…for crying out loud, when they greeted each other, they would say “Maranatha” which means “come quickly!” Could you imagine if we greeted each other like that? “John, what’s up, come quickly“…”Hey sweetie, I missed you, come quickly“. People would think we are crazy and people back in the 1st century probably thought the 1st Christians were crazy too but they didn’t give a flip. They were completely, totally, rabidly fixated on the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ but not for the reasons that I was. They didn’t care about avoiding pain or escaping the Great Tribulation or even going to Heaven…they just wanted to be with Jesus!!

THAT’S what I think is missing in my life and in the life of the American church. We are so preoccupied with everything else except for Jesus! If you took my mind and was able to divide it up into what I think about during the day, it would probably be 50% Paige and the babies, 20% my job, 20% our future and 10% Jesus. There’s something wrong with that picture and I hate that about myself. I want to be madly, passionately and wrecklesly obsessed with Jesus Christ to the point that He is all I think about. Well, wouldn’t that be irresponsible? I don’t think so…if HE consumes me, then everything else will fall into place…it’s proper place. I think it’s the same with the church. Most pastors I know are consumed with paying the mortgage, coming up with relevant sermons, raising funds, ‘growing’ the church, paying their staff and a litany of other pressing obligations. There’s something wrong with that picture! We can’t ‘fit’ Jesus into our churches, HE IS THE CHURCH! He’s the entire reason we exist but we’ve made the church about all these other ‘things’ when it’s so simple. The 1st church had power because they just wanted to be with Jesus…literally! They counted this world as dung in comparison to knowing Him and being with Him and they groaned in anticipation of His return.

I am calling for a new fixation….a new obsession…a RE-newed focus on JUST JESUS! Let’s join together as HIS body and ask for God to set us on fire with passion for His Son so that when we see each other in WalMart or Blockbuster, we just can’t help but yell out “COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!”