The Day of the Lord

 

  Luke 17:20-25

The Coming of the Kingdom

²⁰ Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, ²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

²² And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ And they will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow them. ²⁴ For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. ²⁵ But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

As we proceed to the end of our Liturgical Year, we reflect on the sayings of Jesus pertaining to it. It's a time of purifying, of cleansing our lives and of focusing on the things that really matter. There are fear of the unknown, signs in the sky and the warning of suffering and rejection.  Not a happy time, but a prelude to the best of times yet to come. We will celebrate Thanksgiving a week from today, followed  quickly after with Christ the King and the seasons of Advent and Christmas. We shudder at the closeness and  rapidity of it all, but let us take heed of the warnings of Jesus to put our houses, our souls in order, and be ready for his coming, or of our time to join him for eternity. These are serious days; may we not just let them slip by without taking advantage of them.

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, help me to use these days to cleanse and prepare my heart for your coming. Amen.