Here, in my judgment, is one of the subtlest temptations that faces any Christian in any era: If we are not careful, we can get diverted here from what Christ has called us to do in this present age. This happened in Thessalonica not twenty years after Jesus died, and Saint Paul met the issue head on. Some of the folk there got so caught up in expecting and predicting the imminent return of the Lord that they had ceased to do any work and degenerated into idle busybodies who prattled only about the future (2 Thessalonians 3:11). Paul rebuked this tendency to let an over-interest in “the last things” divert us from faithfulness to “the first things.”

There is an old story about a warrior who was struck one day by a poisonous arrow. This man happened to be a speculative sort of person, so as he lay on the ground he mused to himself: “I wonder what kind of wood this arrow is made of? What sort of birds, do you suppose, the feathers come from? I wonder what type of man shot this arrow – tall or short, dark or light.” His comrades, who saw his plight, could bear it no longer, but cried out in frustration: “For God’s sake, man! Stop speculating and pull out the arrow!”

Need I say more?

Gary L. Carver and Tom M. Garrison, Sermons for Sundays in Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Building a Victorious Life, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.