“Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning” – Mark 13:35
Jesus is coming back, but nobody on Earth knows exactly when. Jesus made clear that His precise timing would be surprising, though there will be signs. For this reason, His people must always be ready. His return could be today or it could be thousands of years from now. That said, the current events of the world may be indicating His return will be sooner rather than later. Take these signs seriously! Regardless of when Jesus returns, today is certainly a day closer to His return than yesterday was. Are you prepared for your Master’s return? What will He say about how you’ve lived your life?
As followers of Jesus, we’ve been commanded and warned by our Lord to live lives that are always prepared for His return. What does that mean? It means being diligent about the work He’s given us. We must devote our time, talent, and treasure to making disciples of Jesus Christ. We must be living increasingly holy lives that reflect God’s saving grace transforming us. We must be sharing the truth and hope of Jesus Christ with those who haven’t heard. We must be teaching new believers how to follow Jesus. We must be helping established believers become more like Jesus. And we must be going and sending disciples out into God’s harvest fields from our neighborhood to the ends of the earth.
Currently, there are billions of people who have not yet had the opportunity to respond to the Gospel. Jesus has commanded us to go to them. As His followers, we must be mobilizing His people to go, to learn about, pray for, and support those who go, and to go ourselves, even if it’s just to our newly arrived neighbors from far away. As we await the return of Jesus, we should live our lives with joy, abundance, and devotion to Jesus. We must align our attitudes, words, and actions to the commands and example of Jesus. We must pursue holiness and walk without shame, confident in the Lord’s return. #FollowJesus