SCRIPTURE: Mark 13:32-37
In Mark 13, Jesus describes what this present age will be like after He goes back to God.
It will be nothing less than a clash of kingdoms, and it will seem as if darkness is winning.
But be strong, take heart, and wait for the Lord, for He is coming.
Thing is, we don’t know when and we don’t know how long we will have to wait (keep in mind, He spoke these words almost 2000 years ago, it still could be many more).
We don’t know WHEN He will come, but we do know THAT He will come, and He warns us to be ready.
But what does it mean to be ready: it means doing what He assigned us to do as we wait.
As we wait for Jesus, we are to live as if this world were God’s kingdom (which it is), to live and love like Jesus!
Wherever He has sent us, this is where He wants us to represent Him, until He comes back to finish things off.
It won’t be easy, and the kingdom of darkness will resist us, but we must persevere in faith, hope and love.
We must work as we wait, and wait as we work, confident that no matter what happens (no matter how successful the kingdom of darkness seems to be), Jesus will return and put things right!
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, keep me focused on You, and on living Your kingdom life, no matter what happens. Remind me each day that You are coming. help me to watch for it… work for it… wait for it!!!
I pray that God will open my eyes to the scriptures in a way that I don’t read them with fear and guilt, but with an understanding of the love behind them.
Observation/Application
One day Luther saw his children standing around a table, and he noticed how their eyes glistened as they looked longingly on a dish of peaches. “This,” he mused, “is a pattern of those who rejoice in the hope ( Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Rom. 12:12). Oh, if only we would behold the last day with the same happy and fond expectation.”(Luther)
As with the workers in the vineyard we/I in His vineyard work in expectation of the Master’s return using the talents given for His glory. The ‘Watch’ is a working expected watch for He will return. Luther wrote often about the return. Since no one knows the day nor the time – work doing the will of the Master. Work each day as serving Him. Work in expectation of the coming never lacking in zeal for it is the Lord God I am serving.
Prayer
Oh Master let me walk with You in all of my activities this day. May all see You in me in all I do and say.
Teach me Thy patience; still with Thee
In closer, dearer, company,
In work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
In trust that triumphs over wrong.
In hope that sends a shining ray
Far down the future’s broadening way,
In peace that only Thou canst give,
With Thee, O Master, let me live.