“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:20 (NIV)

There are several places in the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus where His predictions for the “end of the age” appear. If you have ever read these accounts, you already know that He says some scary stuff. He talks about buildings and people disappearing. He warns of people who will try to deceive others into believing that they are “the Christ.” He speaks of wars that will come, earthquakes and famines that will wipe out entire races, and a darkness that will blot out the light of the sun and the moon. He bluntly states that those who believe in Him will be “persecuted” and “put to death.” It is actually terrifying to read.

In 2014, I enrolled in classes to work toward receiving a master’s degree in theological studies. As I have taken courses and studied the Bible, I have been led to an idea that I am contemplating for a potential thesis project. That idea is that when Jesus spoke about the “end of the age,” He wasn’t necessarily speaking about the world, as we know it, disappearing. He was actually speaking to each person individually.

I’m sure I’ve come to this idea because of my experience with “hitting bottom” with my life in addiction. Because of that bottom and my life in recovery over the past 17+ years, I can very well state that the world, as I knew it in addiction, is GONE! While living in addiction, nothing was truth. I used people and they used me. I deceived others for personal gain, and others deceived me for personal gain. I was constantly fighting the world and starving for attention, love, and safety. Every day was darker and more hopeless than the one before it. Thankfully, that Jessica was “put to death.”

As I look back on that life, the feelings of self-hatred and uselessness that accompanied it, and the endless strife and narcissism that swirled around it, I realize that it is just about everything that Jesus spoke of when He spoke of the “end of the age.” I also realize that, through it all, He never left me. On countless occasions, He saved me from myself when I didn’t even know I needed saving. He put certain people – and one awesome cat – in my path to help me find my way to Him, before I even knew I needed them. And, while the journey to my recovery from addiction was blanketed with roadblocks and wrong turns, He gently – and sometimes sternly – guided me back to solid ground. He was “always” with me. Even when I look back on my darkest moments, I know He was there. I could not have explained it then, but I know now that He was protecting me and guiding me every step of the way.

I don’t know if the “end of the age” is an apocalypse that will occur for everyone at once – or if it is something that occurs individually (although, I may soon be trying to “prove” that to be true). What I do know is that either way, Jesus will always be with me. His promise in Matthew 28:20 is more real than any fear I have ever experienced – or will ever experience.

Could there be anything else I will ever want or need than the presence of my Savior? What a wonderful promise!