I saw the most amazing sun rise this morning, I actually stopped and worshiped mid-run. It was just one of those, I-can’t-believe-I’m-actually-seeing-this kind of sights.
When you see color spilled across the sky like that, you know the sun rise is near, right? Just as dark, heavy clouds forecast rain. In the same way, Jesus tells us to watch for signs of His return. Not as alarmists, or that we have the day and hour pegged, because that cannot happen. But just to be watchful.
Luke 12:35-48 speaks on such watchfulness. I want to share some of this passage and encourage you to read the rest on your own. Starting in verse 35, Jesus says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the 2nd or 3rd watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Wow! I don’t exactly know what to do with those words. I know what it means to be prepared. I know how to pack a camping trailer for a week’s vacation. Is that what He’s talking about? Or is it more like the first year Adam left for 10 days to go to Africa? I couldn’t sleep the night before, excitedly awaiting his arrival the next day. I cleaned the house, had food to cook, I was ready! To me, verse 35 conveys a message of anticipation and expectation of the Master’s return, that goes beyond what my everyday expresses.
How am I to be ready for Christ’s return? Are you ready for Him to return? The word says it will be good for that person who watching, when He returns. Are you watching?
Julie Steck 