Reading in the Scriptures this morning Jesus’ charge to His followers to be ready for His return. There are a number of different ways He illustrates the need to be ready, but each one points to the tendency of all of us to get lazy, apathetic, disinterested, disconnected.
The disciples ask in Matthew 24 about the things they should look for to signal the approach of the time when Jerusalem will be destroyed. Jesus tells them some specifics, but also the severity of the situation that will arise. They will be in mortal danger. Yikes, what a message. I am sure it wasn’t what they wanted to hear.
But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He takes the opportunity, through Matthew’s weaving of his narrative, to tell of an even greater event, one that is still in the future, even for us.
And one thing stands out to me. If we are aware of the event coming, we can be ready. We can be watching, anticipating what will happen, and when it does we will be able to say, “I told you so.” (Not that “I told you so” will be important at that moment.)
We can be ready. We can live lives anticipating Jesus’ return, Judgment Day, and full restoration of relationship with God. Knowing His is coming should affect every moment of our lives. We can’t afford to fall asleep at the wheel. We need to prepare.
As we get ready to head to Okinawa there are many details, small things that need to be handled. We obtained International Driver’s Licenses. We have our passports. We have our TSAPrecheck Global Access Cards. We have our plane tickets. We have someone to drive us to the airport at 5AM (Thanks, Craig). We have someone to pick us up there in Okinawa. We have all the medications we need for the three months. We could go on and on.
But we also prepared the “just in case” things. Our wills are in place. We have talked over the details with our children, shown them where the important documents can be found, given them the combination to the safe and important passwords.
We have said “I love you.”
We know Okinawa is approaching. We know Jesus is returning. We are preparing for both.
How are your preparations going?
The Arnold Journey 