Are You Awake?

Yesterday I was reading Matthew chapter 24. It's all about the "end of the age," 

and teaches what will happen in the "end". Mostly though, it warns us to be ready 

for the return of Jesus Christ. After reading this, I thought about whether I am living

my life as though He may return tomorrow. I like to think I am, but apathy is an area

I struggle with. As I mentioned in my last post, there are days when I feel like I'm 

too busy to sit down and read the Bible or pray. It's not that I must do this every 

day to have God's acceptance or approval, it's that I should have an inner hunger

and desire to spend as much time in His word and with Him in prayer as possible.

God is concerned with the condition of our hearts, and not that we are checking off

a spiritual checklist every day. So, do we have that hunger to know God more and 

more every day, to follow Him wherever He leads us, to love Him more than our 

own lives? Would we be ready if He returned today?

Of course, no one knows when Jesus will return, but whether it is next month or in 

a hundred years, we need to be living every day as though Jesus may return at any 

time. This means not becoming lazy in our walk with God. I feel like this is a real 

problem for American Christians. As a culture, we are so comfortable in our lives. 

Maybe a little too comfortable? We need to be sure we are consistently walking 

out our faith. 

To me, walking out my faith means loving God with all my being and loving all

those around me by being gracious, patient, kind and so on. Practically speaking, 

praying a blessing over someone when they cut you off in traffic. Many times this prayer 

ends up being, "Lord, protect that person from themselves and protect everyone

who is driving around them!" 

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."   1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 ESV

Back to the topic of our American culture, we have been so blessed with religious

freedom that I think we sometimes take it for granted. We tend to go through the 

motions while caught up in our day to day lives, not to mention all the mass 

information distractions. 

Would you be ready if Jesus returned today? Or would it catch you by surprise? 

Would you be overjoyed to see Him, or would you be nervous about whether

you had been living the way you should? Let's not be caught "sleeping" in our faith. 

Let's be wide awake in our faith every day, always living expectantly for His return.

"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Matthew 24: 42-44, ESV