Since we are now into the holiday season, we should be thankful and enjoy the periods between Thanksgiving and New Year’s when we focus more on family and socializing. This is a good thing. It’s almost like a tithe of the year in which we draw back and focus on relationships. Enjoy it, and get all of the rest you can, because 2011 is going to be one of the most intense years of our lifetime. This also means that it will be one of the most opportune years for those who are prepared.

     There is an awakening going on in America. Conservatives are crediting President Obama for getting them engaged and united more than any conservative leader has ever been able to do. There is also increasing evidence that Americans are turning more to conservatives for leadership into the future, having been shocked by the leadership of the last two years. Even so, the ultimate answers are not going to come from politics or our government. Too many times Christians have felt that if their people were elected, everything would be made right, and the slide continued.

     There is a lot to be encouraged about from the 2010 elections. It is very encouraging the way that Christians are waking up and getting engaged in the important issues of our times, but this is not our main strength or our main contribution as the salt and light we’re called to be. Can we do this while not forgetting the even more important responsibilities we’re called to do?

     What are the more important responsibilities to which we are called? First, to make it through the coming times, we must now start to actually perform one of the most basic Reformation truths—the priesthood of all believers. The New Testament is clear that every one of us is a priest now, and studies show that more than 90 percent of Christians do not even understand what this means. Fewer are walking in this basic calling that we all have. How different would our lives, the lives of our families and friends, our churches, our cities, our nation, and our world be, if Christians became the priests they are called to be? The difference would be profound.

     We are entering some of the most challenging times the world has ever experienced, which is described in Isaiah 60:1-5:

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples, but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you.
And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you.
Your sons will come from afar, and your daughters will be carried in the arms.
Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice;
Because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.”

     As we see here, the light wins! The people come to the light, not the darkness. We need to get ready for this. It begins with our most basic duties as priests. Get ready for an emphasis on this coming to the body of Christ. It’s time.