Wake Up

Mark 13:32-37 "Now concerning that day or hour no one knows--neither the angels in heaven nor the Son-- except the Father. Watch! Be alert! For you don't know when the time is coming. It is like a man on a journey, who gave each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to be alert. Therefore be alert, since you don't know when the master of the house is coming-- whether in the evening or at midnight or at the crowing of the rooster or early in the morning. Otherwise, he might come suddenly and find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to everyone: Be alert!" (HCSB)

Hebrews 9:28 So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (ESV)

Matthew 24:42-44 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (NIV)

    Most of us have heard that the day Jesus comes back will be unexpected. No man will know the day or hour of His return (which completely falsifies those who "prophesy" of this). We cannot say for certain that He will even come in our time, but we are to live as if He is coming at any moment. Scripture tells us that life will be going on as normal when He returns (Matthew 24:37-39). The verses mentioned above stress that in our ignorance of His arrival, we need to stay alert. But what does that look like for us? 

    As I have talked about in the past, we are each dealt gifts according to the grace of God. It is His choosing who gets what and of how much and it is our job to use those gifts to bring Him praise. It is made clear that while we are waiting for His return, we are to be busy doing His work here on earth.  We are supposed to use the tools He gave us to bring the world into the fullness of all Christ has to offer. 

   Whether you think the end is near or not, you have a Biblical responsibility to be ready at any time. Are you using your tools to work for Jesus or are you sitting idle and hoarding your gifts for yourself? The parable below from Matthew 25 makes it clear how Jesus feels about us refusing to use what He has given us. If He came tomorrow, would He find you working or would He find you sleeping (Mark 13)?

Matthew 25:14-30 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.“The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.
“After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’“The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’
“The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’
“The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’“Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’
“But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’“Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’" (NLT)