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Ready and Waiting

And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward,
whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their
portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom
his master will find so doing when he comes."

Luke 12:42,43

We should live in fervent expectation of the Lord's return, but in our expectation, we should also be busy. On more than one occasion, Jesus compared His followers to servants or stewards entrusted with work that was to be done while their master was away. At some time in the future, the master would return, and when that time came, it was to be hoped that the servants would not have neglected their master's work. "Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes."

The point, of course, is that Jesus will one day return, and we are to be ready and waiting for Him. He has not told us exactly when that day will arrive, and it is a good thing that He has not. If we knew precisely how much time we had left, most of us would procrastinate doing the Lord's work until the very last moment.

We need to live and work as if we knew that our Lord would return today. There is a real possibility that He might actually do so, but even if He does not, it won't hurt us to have lived with that expectation. We are more likely to work and to serve as we should if we expect the end to come today rather than ten years from now.

But how could a person love the Lord and not hope that it would be today? There are surely some good things about this world that we enjoy and give thanks for. And in one sense, we would like to enjoy these as long as we can. But the Lord has far better things waiting for us, and we should have our hearts so lovingly set on those things that we would give up our temporal joys instantly if the Lord said we could have heaven right now.

As we wait for the Lord's return, we can do so with confidence in His wisdom. His first appearing occurred "when the fulness of the time had come" (Galatians 4:4), and we can rest assured that His final appearing will be timed with perfect wisdom. Meanwhile, we can wait in faith and hope and love. We can be faithful in His work, ready and waiting to see His face.

The only way to wait for the Second Coming is to watch that you do
what you should do, so that when he comes is a matter of indifference.
It is the attitude of a child, certain that God knows what he is doing.

Oswald Chambers

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