Be Ready

Matthew 24: 42-51

 Keep Watch

⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

It is fascinating and frightening to be on guard for the coming of the Lord to take us from this life. We are not to live in fear, but in readiness, that is, faithful to what Jesus asks of us as his disciples. We often hear of the person, apparently in good health, who drops dead totally unexpectedly, a reminder that we know not the day nor the hour. The admonition to be ready serves as a stabilizer in our busy lives that can swerve so easily off the course. Even as I write, I pray that I might be faithful today to the God who is so faithful to me.. I know not what lies ahead in the ensuing hours, but am making a conscious effort to remember the shortness of this life,  the small price of holding on to what is healthy and helpful, and rejecting what is distracting and useless. Dear God, let me live faithfully and confidently in your loving Presence, and banish from me all that would lead me away from you. Amen! 

Bro. Rene

Bro. Rene