The Mayans aren’t the only ones saying this! It’s Peter as well:

⁷ The end of everything has come. Therefore, be self-controlled and clearheaded so you can pray. (1 Peter 4:7, CEB)

See?!?! The end is near!

Rather than induce panic, Peter gives a more calm approach to the end (as does Jesus in the Olivet Discourse). It’s not scary. That is probably why we are more enthralled with the scary stuff of Revelation than a few verses in 1 Peter (even though I think Revelation gives us the same message). Our tendency is to love to be scared and Revelation is far more scary.

Knowing the end is near isn’t a call for panic. It is a call for clearheaded thinking for the purpose of prayer.

Knowing the end of all things is at hand should lead us to decisive action. Ironically, the decisive action isn’t to figure out who the Antichrist will be, or who the ten toes will represent, or how the mark of the beast will get on our hand or forehead.

The action we take is to keep on living as people of the Kingdom. We love each other, allowing the love of God to cover sin. We serve one another. We discover our gifts and use them.

It is rather boring stuff, which is why most people have quit reading this post by now. I’m not talking about the Beast or the tribulation or the rapture, so why talk about the mundane stuff of living in Kingdom power?

The end is very much at hand and our task is to live out the power of the Kingdom today. The injunction isn’t to go out and discover who the Antichrist is… the injunction is to go out and love one another. Be clearheaded in your thinking.