By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
“You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Luke 12:40.
This is the concluding verse in Jesus’s parable on watchfulness when he warns his listeners that they must always be prepared for the Master to return.
Why? Because no one knows when Christ will return. “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” Matt 24:36.
He will return when least expected. “Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” 1 Thes 5:1-2
Now that you’re thinking End Times thoughts, I can let you in on a little secret: I don’t think the end is near as we recon “near.”
I think there are too many things to be accomplished before we hear the sounds of the Trumpet announcing his return and see Christ in the air. The Bride is not ready, and the whole world has yet to hear.
Of course, what do I know? If even Jesus didn’t know when he was on earth, who am I to say it won’t be today?
That said, I know this: There doesn’t seem to be much difference between Jesus returning and my going to him. Either way, we will find ourselves suddenly standing before Him while He sits on His throne.
Each day in the USA, some 9-10,000 people die. Statistically, that means about two people in Williams County will die each day.
So, how do you or I know that today isn’t our day? Too often, we see newborns and teenagers, and middle-aged adults in the obituaries right beside us older folks. There simply are no guarantees when our day will arrive.
Personally, I’ve nearly doubled my father’s time on earth. I’ve even outlasted my mom by 15 years. Every day for me seems like a bonus day.
Yet, just last month, a 19-year-old woman I knew died. There doesn’t appear to be rhyme or reason or even fairness in who goes when. There’s no FIFO or even LILO when it comes to who lives and who dies young.
I read where we shorten our lives 15 minutes with each cigarette we smoke. That could knock 7.5 years off a 30-year pack-a-day smoker. Being overweight does about the same.
It can knock off 10 or more years. These are good factors for us to consider, but they don’t actually change the outcome. We all know smokers who lived to 90 and thin athletic people who died at 50.
I’m not trying to be fatalistic, but we don’t have full control over the days we have. Psalms 139:16 says: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
God controls the number of days we live. We may be able to control the quality one way or another, but the number seems to be determined by him.
Maybe that’s why Jesus said we need to be ready because we don’t know the hour of Jesus’s return… or our return to Him.
So, here’s the question all this is leading up to: Are you ready? John 5:22 reads, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son”.
If this evening, you find yourself face to face with Jesus, the Judge of all men, what are you going to tell him? What is He going to tell you?
It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? I actually don’t think we will have to say a word. All our judgment depends on our relationship with God through Jesus.
Either I am a child of the King born into that relationship through the blood shed by Christ on the cross, and the confession of my faith in that event and the subsequent resurrection of Christ, along with my repentance…or I am not a child of the King.
What I did while on earth is only relevant in the level of rewards or punishment I will receive.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’”
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Matt 25:34,41
I suppose I should revise my question to: What will Jesus say to you when you meet him face to face? Remember, it won’t be about how well you lived your life, but about whose child you are.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.