when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Jesus wants us to be ready. The end of the world might not come in our lifetime. But it might. It might come today. And what if it did? What would we be scrambling to finish? What are the things we had put off that we would regret not having done to be ready to meet Jesus?
One like a son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
At the end of the world every eye will see him. But he still comes to meet each one of us each day. We should be ready to greet him and to welcome him. How do we prepare? We must keep our lamps burning with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Then when the cries goes out that the bridegroom is near we won't have to run back to the city for oil. Our hearts and souls will be in good shape to welcome him. We get to practice this every time we meet another person, for all are made in the image of God. When our lamps are lit with grace we are at our best and become a blessing to others. When we are low on oil we simply add to the problems of a society already overburdened with trouble. From whence comes the oil? Again, not ourselves, but from the Holy Spirit. We ensure that we do not squander it through mortal sin, but beyond that, it is only in our power to desire, to ask, and to welcome it. But do we do these things? The Holy Spirit has more for us, no matter how much we have now. He wants us to shine ever more brightly. He wants us to be ready so that we too can one day be presented before the Ancient One.
Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was snow bright,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
His throne was flames of fire,
with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him.
All of the beasts that have dominion over the earth will eventually be slain in thrown in the fire. We don't want to throw in our lot with them. And we don't need to worry overmuch about conquering them ourselves. We need rather to keep our lamps shining and to keep watch for the one who will conquer them once and for all. This lamp of grace will keep us from getting swept away with the rest of the darkness that has no place in heaven. It will reveal us as the children of the Ancient One, with whom he, somehow, delights to share his throne.
Give glory and eternal praise to him!
No comments:
Post a Comment