Await My Return

“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:42-44 ESV). In the ESV translation, our verses are found in the section titled, “No One Knows That Day and Hour”. This not knowing can relate to many things; such as the flood that came in the days of Noah, the day of our spiritual birth, the day of our physical death, but especially the day of the coming of the Lord.

The context of the section our verses are in relation to the importance of being ready for the coming of the Lord. I find it interesting, and I think appropriate, that the “coming” of the Lord is used, not the “return” of the Lord. For a few the event may be the return of the Lord, but for most it will be his coming at our physical death like in the days of Noah. If it is important to be ready for his coming, then what must we do to be ready?

As we look through the verses surrounding our verses, we find being ready includes such things as being awake. On one of my return flights from China I fell asleep waiting for my flight and didn’t wake up until just minutes before takeoff. I managed to be the last one to board, but I made it. We must also be at work for the Lord; we don’t retire at a particular point and say, “I have done my part,” but we continue to press on. The most important thing we must be doing is working out our salvation; which means we have been born spiritually and are growing in Christlikeness.

Prayer

Father, it would be easier to sleep longer in the mornings and watch TV in the evenings than to work at writing Bible studies to post on the Internet, but then the quality of my life would not be as good and I would not have the blessing of being part of the lives of those around the world that read them, nor would I enjoy the nourishment I receive from my study or the blessing of my time with the Lord. I pray for physical health to allow me to be involved with the Lord until the day he comes to take me home with him.

See "The Commands of Jesus" Index to view other commands.