Hang in There!

[The Librarian]

A Speaker used this illustration regarding our relationship with Jehovah and our faith in holding on during this time of the end; When we are right at the brink of Armageddon and we feel like we can't hang on another minute.

A man was is in the mountains, it's night time, he wanders off the road and falls off a cliff. He grabs on to a tree root and holds on for dear life. He hangs there all night during this raging storm and every time his grip weakens, he grabs on tighter, his life hangs in the balance. His muscles ache and finally near dawn he feels his grip loosening and he thinks he cannot hold on another minute.

Then the sun rises and he looks down and realizes that all during that stormy ordeal - HE WAS ONLY TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND.

Isn't it wonderful. The point being - we are right on the brink of Armageddon and just when we feel we cannot hold on another minute in this darkened, terrible world - we could be only one day away from salvation. We're only 'two feet off the ground.

via Robert Ryles

[JW Insider]

Afraid it gives the idea that it would have been OK to just let go even if we felt we could not hang on another minute, because we would have survived the fall anyway. After all we were never more than two feet off the ground.

The better idea is there, too, of course: that if we hang on to some anchor for our faith, in spite of the dark, raging storm of this world, that there will come a time when we see how easily and gently it will all works out, as if we were never in danger.

All in all, however, it would be good to balance this tense and confusing illustration with one that is a little more in line with Jesus' words of comfort:

(Revelation 2:2, 3) . . .. 3 You are also showing endurance, and you have persevered for the sake of my name and have not grown weary.

(Galatians 6:9, 10) 9 So let us not give up in doing what is fine, for in due time we will reap if we do not tire out. 10 So, then, as long as we have the opportunity, let us work what is good toward all, but especially toward those related to us in the faith.

(Matthew 11:28-30) 28 Come to me, all you who are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, and you will find refreshment for yourselves. 30 For my yoke is kindly, and my load is light.”

Yes, we fight a fine fight of the faith against the dark forces of this system, but we have been given all the tools necessary to find joy in our daily victories. We are NOT trying to hang in there until Armageddon proves so close that it becomes the solution to our problems. That's the same as living with a date or time period in mind. Instead, we are trying to live a Christian life of joy, finding happiness in successfully conquering the weaknesses and sins of the flesh with the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, etc. It's about being the person we ought to be -- not surviving to the advent of Armageddon.