Hour Unknown
Opening Prayer
Father, awaken my heart to all that is real and remove the things that would dull my senses.
Read Matthew 24:36-44
[36] “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. [37] As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. [38] For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; [39] and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. [40] Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. [41] Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. [42] “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. [43] 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. [44] So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is at the heart of what Jesus is saying?How often do you consider the idea that Jesus might return tonight? The early church would have genuinely expected this event at any moment, but 2,000 years on, our sense of urgency has somewhat dulled. Yet this passage tells us to be ready and expectant at all times.Jesus describes his second coming as an instantaneous and totally unheralded event. We won’t get any warning, and perhaps most incredibly, even Jesus himself doesn’t know when it’s going to happen. Only God the Father knows (36). A clue as to why is found in Jesus’ mini-parable (43) of the man waiting to catch the thief who is about to rob him. God is interested in people who live their whole lives for him, not just their final moments. So Jesus tells his followers: “Keep watch” (42). By this does he simply mean to keep living blamelessly at all times? Perhaps it is a more positive challenge than that; the fact that Jesus really could return tonight should spur us on to live in a way that makes every second count: in evangelism, in our care of the poor, and in our whole-life worship of him.
Apply
Evaluate your life. If Jesus came back today, would you be pleased at what he would find? Journal about this.
Closing prayer
Coming King, help me to live each day fully aware of You and Your kingdom. Let me live with Your vision and fire.
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