Get Ready and Wait

Daily Reading: Mark 13

Scripture Focus:  Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.  (Mark 13.35-37)

Devotional Thought: In Mark 13, Jesus taught his disciples about his return and the end of the age.  While there is great speculation about the events and timing of Jesus’ return, there is one thing that is certain: he will return.  Jesus concluded his teaching with a warning to the disciples and to us to be ready.  Jesus’ admonition to “watch” raises a few questions:

When should we get ready?  Now!  We don’t know when he is returning (the end of the age or the end of our lives), so we need to be ready constantly.  An old rabbi used to tell his congregation to repent the day before they died.  He often would hear the response, “But, Rabbi, we know not the day of our death.”  To which he replied, “Then repent today.”  Jesus is coming, don’t wait to get ready.  Instead, get ready and wait!

What does it mean to be asleep or awake?  When we are asleep, we are alive but inactive.  We move, but without purpose.  We are peaceful, but unaware.  We are quiet (except those who talk in their sleep or snore!), but we can’t hear.  Our brains are operating, but randomly. (OK, psychiatrists may say that dreams are not random, but that’s not my point!)  To be awake is the opposite: we are active; we move with purpose; we are aware of what's happening around us; we respond thoughtfully. 

When The End comes, we need to have an active faith that is purposeful, expectant, obedient, and productive.  Am I ready?

Prayer: Lord, I know that you are returning some day.  I don't want to wait to get ready.  Instead, help me to get ready and to wait for your return.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 21.8-13

8 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you.

9 You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, and their offspring from among the children of man.

11 Though they plan evil against you, though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.

12 For you will put them to flight; you will aim at their faces with your bows.

13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength! We will sing and praise your power.