Growing up, it was not uncommon for my parents to put us older kids in charge of caring for the younger siblings while they ran errands in town. This, of course, was before iPhone tracking and GPS devices. The expectations were clear; we knew our responsibilities, and we knew the general time frame they would be gone, but in the end, there was no sure way of knowing. I can recall on several occasions when we would procrastinate our chores or homework, thinking we had more time than we really did. My parents’ car pulling up into the drive would send us into frantic chaos trying to clean up after ourselves while attempting to complete any remaining tasks. This kind of behavior is not unique to my childhood. As adults and followers of Christ, we can assume that we have more time on this earth than we really do. Scripture makes it clear that we do not know the length of days we will live or when Christ will return (Ps 90:12, 139:16; Luke 12:40). Jesus addresses this in Luke 12. When we think of the Second Advent, we often think of the dramatic end-time events in Revelation and our current-day events as they relate. But Jesus wants us to be more concerned about being ready than trying to discern the timing of His return. Jesus tells His disciples to be “dressed in readiness,” to keep their “lamps trimmed,” and to be “alert” (v35-37). But what does this readiness look like? Faithfulness. The servant who is “blessed” is the servant who busies himself with fulfilling his high calling (Lk 12:43; Phil 3:14). May the reality of Christ’s imminent return be a motivation to you to be diligent and not a reason to procrastinate. Encourage yourself with Christ’s coming and the joy to be had when he finds us dressed in faithful readiness. –Pastor Nate
Sunday at Liberty
9AM: Parable of the True Vine–John 15:1-17
10AM: Pastor Nate–A Steward Who Is Faithful–Luke 12:35-59 (sermon notes)
3:30PM: Flagstone Service–Pastor Nate
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