Luke 12:35-40 :

“Let your waist be dressed and your lamps burning. Be like men watching for their lord, when he returns from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Most certainly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them. They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched, and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you don’t expect him.”

I want to clarify something about yesterday’s post. I don’t believe that Jesus is saying that we are not to have a savings account or a retirement account. In fact, we know from other parts of the Bible that having an inheritance for our children and their children is not bad either. I think that Jesus must be trying to stress the fact that we cannot take our earthly wealth with us and that we should focus our lives on the needy and that includes very practical behavior like giving things away.

In the passage today we read that Jesus wants his servants to be ready for His return at any moment. Many people try to say that certain things have to happen before Jesus returns. I don’t read that in the Bible. I see that Jesus could come to gather His church at any time. We also read here that we are not to set dates. We know this because it is a futile effort. Jesus has made it clear here that “the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you don’t expect him.” So we know one thing. He won’t come on a date that you expect Him to come. This means that we need to be ready all the time.

There is also an attitude of eagerness that Jesus expects. We are to be like servants just waiting to open the door on a very important day. We are not to loose interest in waiting for Jesus to return. This is so important for us today after 2,000 years of waiting. We need to stay ready today, tomorrow and the next day. By the Holy Spirit’s power we will be able to have this kind of faith, so let’s trust Him and continue to eagerly wait.