If there’s one repeated news that we’ve heard this week, it’s that it is hot out there.  Temperatures have made their way upwards in our generally temperate Canadian climate so that heat warnings are being issued for us to keep hydrated and cool.  Yet our experiences are a fraction of what is being experienced in Europe – Portugal, Spain, England – where temperatures have climbed to dangerous highs.  As I listened to our news, I discover the single finger of blame pointed at the problem of “global warming”.  Indeed, the progression of global warming has been alarming as rising temperatures melt ice in the poles, and change the ecological balance of the earth.

I listened, but my heart goes to the Scriptures, and I discover in it a far more important message of a heat-plagued world – not of “global warming” of a “global warning” found in 2 Peter 3:10, “the heavens shall pass away with a roar, and the heavens shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”  Read the passage with care.  You will find that Peter’s reminder of this global destruction by intense heat is on how we should live in the present day.  We are called to a holiness beyond that of our neighbours.  We are called to raise the standard of fervent prayer for the lost and speak the message of salvation to as many as would hear.  Jude says, “Have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude 1:22-23). As I read of trains engulfed in a sea of flame, or lines of thirsty people forming for a bucket of water, I am reminded of the task at hand.  Christ is returning, and it’s later than we think.  Watch the temperature gauge.