"Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.
37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.
39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
People were always pressing Jesus. They always wanted to know when it was going to happen. "When are You going to restore the Kingdom of David? When are You going to establish the promise that we got from the Old Testament prophet? When are You going to announce who You are and run off these pesky Romans so we can establish the Kingdom of David right here in Jerusalem and of course, as humble disciples, we can take our place of power with You?"
Perhaps the greatest sacrifice we make on a daily basis is our time. Whether you are graced with resources, gifts or talents, time supersedes them all because it is something that every human has in their possession. You can waste your time or use it wisely. The choice is yours. Similarly though, we all have the choice of what we do with our time and how we spend it. In our present culture of increased productivity and efficiencies, time is a precious commodity and supremely valued. Therefore, we are typically protective of our time and (let's be honest) reluctant to share it if it is not self-serving. What is of greatest importance to God though is how we spend the time that we have been given.
Upon reading Luke 12:35-40, it is easy to gloss over the admonitions that Jesus is making concerning our use of time here on earth. For if God sees a day on earth as equivalent to a thousand years in heaven, it is fairly easy to presume that we do not have all the time in the world to live according to our own set of rules. Jesus highlighted this point in the parable of the rich fool when he taught that living without a concept of God's sovereign will and timing results in eternal judgement. "But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:20-21).
Preparation is essential to Christian living. If you are not prepared on how to handle and respond to trials and temptations that undoubtedly come your way, how would you ever feel equipped to stand firm in righteousness? The apostle Paul expounded upon this idea as such: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). If an athlete or a soldier is not properly trained, he or she is not prepared for action and subject to injury or even death. Why then do we believe we can stray from following God's teachings and not succumb to the same painful fate? Are we not fooling ourselves by thinking we are awake and standing watch while in actuality we are sleep-walking through our obedience and submission to Scripture?
No comments:
Post a Comment