You also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
We should watch for the LORD and live a life prepared for his coming. He has mysteries that he wants to make known to us by revelation just as he did for Paul. He wants to surprise us with insight into the mystery of Christ. The promises we have through the Gospel are seldom fully appreciated. Yet our posture is more often as though we understand everything already. We've heard the readings before. The teaching we're receiving now sounds just like a teaching from last week. And so we aren't prepared for the LORD bringing us something new, awakening our hearts to some aspect of his promise of which we had been heretofore unaware.
We see with Paul that the LORD is sometimes willing to go to extremes to get his point across. But what time we waste when we don't respond at once. We put ourselves at risk.
Truly, I say to you, he will put him
in charge of all his property.
But if that servant says to himself,
‘My master is delayed in coming,’
It is complacency that is our enemy. It is lukewarmness that causes Jesus to spit the church at Laodicea from his mouth (see Revelation 3:16). The patience of the LORD is directed toward mercy and salvation.
And consider the patience of our Lord as salvation (see Second Peter 3:15)
We have, in fact, been entrusted with much. Those of us reading this today won't be let off with a light beating if we neglect the truth entrusted to us. There is so much need of it in the world. The heart of Jesus longs to be made known. The time is now.
Much will be required of the person entrusted with much,
and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.
Let us, therefore, keep watch. The LORD trusts us, not simply with static doctrine, but to stay awake as he visits us, to have our hearts enlightened as he reveals himself more and more.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
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