Sunday 12 August 2018

Till I come

Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ – Luke 19.12-14

Jesus tells the story of a nobleman who went away to prepare his kingdom and return. We know right away that this is a thinly veiled analogy to His own ministry of going to prepare a place for us and to prepare for His kingdom on earth. He tells his workers that they need to carry on their business until He comes again. Waiting for Jesus to come back is not a matter of us sitting on our hands waiting for His return.

The Thessalonian beleivers were all worried about missing the rapture and getting signs and finding out when Jesus was going to come back. When Paul wrote to them he said don’t worry about the times. Just get busy.

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Jesus is coming, but rather laying back and resting in the we ought to be busy at the work.

In about 1968 my dad was in Vietnam. Out of thin air the phone rang and Dad said he was on his way home! We all got excited and ran to the door to look – not. Mom got us all busy cleaning and tidying up and cutting the grass. Dad was on his way home and we had a lot to do before he got there.

It’s that spirit that ought to motivate us today. Jesus is on His way. He may get here at any moment. Let’s be sure that we are working with the time we have until He is back.

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