“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Matthew 24:44 (NIV)
Am I ready for the Son of Man to come?
He will come when I don’t expect it, and if I am mistreating His people when He comes, I can expect only punishment. A faithful and wise servant will give God’s people their food at the proper time, whereas a wicked servant will doubt that God is coming and will mistreat God’s people.
I take this warning by our Lord as directed to teaching pastors like myself. Will I be found giving God’s people His Words, or will I mistreat them, manipulating them for my own gain, so that I can eat and drink with drunkards? If I believe that my Lord will come any minute of any hour of any day of any week of any year, then I will serve God in His church at Parkdale by caring for His people, through the proper ministry of God’s Word to their minds and hearts.
But this passage has application beyond pastors who are responsible for opening God’s Word in churches. For it is teaching all of us how to prepare to meet your God. We are to live in expectation that our Lord will come back at any moment. If we start to say – ah - I have lots of time to get ready for Him, I will do what I want for a little while, and get right with Him before He comes, we are making a big mistake. This is a way of life, an attitude of life, which needs to be cultivated. I grew up in the 70s and 80s when predicting when our Lord would come back was all the rage, and so I am a little jaded when it comes to believing what men say about the current signs of the times. Perhaps you share my jadedness? We need to be careful that our jadedness does not cause us to stop living in expectation that the Lord might come back today.
We used to sing this little song; Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening and maybe soon. Coming again, coming again - Oh what a wonderful day it will be – Jesus is coming again.
Unfortunately, it will only be wonderful for those who are ready.
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