Matthew 24:44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
Bird watchers are a curious group. They head out into the fields and forests expecting to find birds that aren’t necessarily there. They go in hopes of seeing them, of catching a photo, checking that rare sighting off their “I hope to see before I die” list.
They don’t know if their days of watching will be productive or if they will come back after a long day having not seen. But they head out anyway. They are busy at the task of trying to see in some cases the almost impossible to see.
This trait of being at the task of looking is a great asset in life. We are all, to one degree or another, watchers. We scour the news looking for something hopeful. (And this has been very difficult to find these days.) We are on edge when large crowds come our way, wondering if they carry the virus or are bent on imposing their will on us.
We are learning that for some, the world is not a safe place. We have so often thought that the kind of unrest that we are seeing in the news just won’t happen to us and our communities. But it is happening in more and more places. So we live ever vigilant to danger, both real and perceived.
Jesus is sharing with His disciples about the timing of the establishment of His kingdom. He says the timing isn’t for them to know. Both the day and the hour can’t be known. But they are to be doing the right things until then. They are to be on watch, if watching is part of their job.
They are also to be paying attention to their surroundings, unlike the people before the Flood. They just went about their business despite Noah building a huge boat in their backyard. The construction should have at least sparked some curiosity about why he was building. But they stayed in the dark, unwilling to listen to Noah’s voice.
We are to be ready at any moment. We are to be watching and waiting for His return. We accomplish the duties of this life, like family and work and worship, but we always have our suitcase packed, so to speak, ready to go at a moments notice. We are paying attention to our world and looking for what the LORD is doing in this moment of time.
We hear about the underground church in Iran and our hearts are encouraged. The explosive growth where humanly it is not possible for the Gospel to grow and flourish. And yet the LORD is working. He is still changing hearts and lives, even when humanity is seemingly falling apart at the seams.
The Arnold Journey 