Are you ready?

There are many things coming in the near and not so near future, but here are some examples:

Are you ready for church tomorrow?

Are you ready for Labor Day?

Do you have your hunting gear ready for moose and caribou?

Are you ready with your fantasy teams for the NFL season?

Do you have winter tires ready to swap out?

Have you picked out Christmas presents?

Do you have tickets for the next big event?

Do you have an outfit for graduation, or the wedding?

Do you have extra food and water if/when another earthquake hits or Mt. Spurr erupts?

Are you ready for Jesus’ return?  

I bet the answer is yes to the first set of questions. But I don’t know about the last one.

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Would you live differently if you knew Jesus was coming back a week from now?  In both Matthew 24:26 and Acts 1:7, Jesus says that only God knows when Jesus will return; not even the angels know. We don’t know when Jesus is coming back. But because it could be any day, Jesus encourages his disciples to be ready for His return. For centuries, some Christians have thought that they were living in the end times, and that Jesus’ return was imminent. I think even Paul would have been surprised to know that almost 2,000 years have gone by since he wrote his epistles, and that we’re still waiting for Jesus’ return.

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Frankly, I don’t think today’s church thinks that He’s coming back soon. I think we think more about church activities than Jesus’ return.  To be honest, I think more about work, kids, Alaska activities, retirement, and grandkids than I do about Jesus’ return. I think about getting ready for all the things listed above, but I don’t think about getting ready for His return. I even think about church, and our life group, but I don’t actively think about His return. Nonetheless, it doesn’t change the reality that Jesus could come back today, or tomorrow, or soon.

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So how would you live differently if you knew He was coming back soon? How would your normal life change if you knew He was coming back soon.

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That’s what Paul is trying to emphasize. For Paul, Jesus’ return was imminent. He lived in full expectation that Jesus was coming back soon, maybe during his lifetime. And so Paul encouraged his readers to be ready for Christ’s return. He says that the night in which we live is almost over, and the day, the day of Jesus’ return, is almost here. That’s why Paul encourages his listeners to wake up and live differently.

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So, how would you live differently if you knew Jesus was returning?

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I think we’d be happier, friendlier. I think we’d worry less and be quicker to share the gospel with others. And I think we’d commit fewer overt, intentional sins.  

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Paul emphasizes preparing for Jesus’ return by living a life of light. He calls us to do acts of righteousness, not deeds of darkness. He wants us to put aside the coziness of comfort and spiritual complacency and awaken from slumber. He wants us to cloak ourselves in the armor of light, or as he writes in Ephesians 6:10-18, the armor of God (which he describes as the Xtratuffs of peace, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit). And, he wants us to live in the light, not in the darkness. Live lives that please God, not ones that please ourselves. If we really think that Jesus could return at any moment, it should remind us to live the type of life that we’re called to live, so we can echo Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, that we have fought the good fight, we have finished the race, we have kept the faith.

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He’s calling us be ready.

Dear God, thank you for Your plan of salvation and for sending Jesus to save us.  Thank You for Jesus’ return, and I pray that I will live a life that glorifies and honors You. Amen.