“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” –Luke 21:34-36
“But of that day and hour no one knows. not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray, for you do not know when the time is.” –Mark 13:34-33
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” –Matthew 24:42-44
Jesus told us to watch always…to not be distracted by what’s going on in the world but to be aware of the how the world is pointing to the end. Everybody is working so hard to ‘make the world a better place’, but they are doing it wrong. More and more programs are introduced to try to help people with addictions, finances, relationships, careers, violence, and health but they all fall short of fixing the problem. The world keeps getting worse because people are powerless to fix it.
Christians must make a choice. We either will keep trying to do it ourselves (and fail miserably), or behave like true Christians and trust fully in Christ. This means we must live as servants to all people (not just the ones we like). We must love others like God loves us. We cannot condone sinful behavior but we also cannot condemn sinners because we are sinners, too. Just because “it takes one to know one” is true, doesn’t mean either one is able to judge the other. Only God can judge. Only God can justify. Only Christ can condemn since He is the one who offers us Redemption.
We can, however, show God’s love by being an example of living for God and not for ourselves. We can forgive all those people who have hurt us, used us, or rejected us. We can even give them more than what they originally asked for, even though it goes against our human nature, it is fully within God’s nature. After all, God gives each of us the sunshine, the rain, the snow, the wind, the flowers and the offer of Redemption. He includes us all so we should include all those around us as well. It is the people who reject God that will end up in condemnation. So we must let the people around us reject us, too. And they will reject us if we tell them up front that we do not condone their sin, i.e. sexual immorality, gossip, selfishness, etc. But we cannot tell them anything that’s not in love and done with a gentle tone instead of a harsh tone. If they reject us because we yelled at them, that’s on us. If they reject us because we lovingly told them the truth, that’s on them.
Above it all, Christ will provide for us what we need while we keep watching for His return. Even as the world continues to crumble around us. Amen.
Observations 