October 17 - Luke 12:35-13:21,  John 9:1-41

Good morning everyone,

Today we read, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.” In this parable, Jesus has painted a picture for the mind’ eye of a master who has gone to a wedding banquet and though he is late returning, his servants are waiting up for him to come back, as this actually takes place in a time when servants were expected to anticipate their master’s wishes. The disciples, Jesus says, are to be dressed and ready, just like the servants in the household of a master who is expected momentarily.

What does that mean, exactly? Well, while being ready is about alertness, it is also about activity. What that meant in Jesus’ time was hitching up your robe and tucking it under your belt so you could run or fight or work unencumbered. But what would that look like for us, as Christians, today? Well, for starters, we are told in Matthew 25 to be faithful. That those servants who were faithful in the use of their talents were rewarded with the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” 

We are also warned about living carelessly. In Luke it says, “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.” Did you get that? Christ's Coming will be as a snare or trap that will affect the whole world. When our Lord appears the saints will be caught away, and those living carelessly will be left behind to go through the awful great tribulation. Not something I would want to go through, you?

We are also warned against being lukewarm. It says in Revelation, “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Friends, if we're going to call ourselves Christians, then let's be real, genuine followers of Christ. Jesus said, “You are either for me or against me.” There is no middle ground. Get off the fence and be all in! Right? 

Nothing should hold you back, nothing should hold me back and nothing should prevent us from doing what matters for God’s kingdom. So I ask, are you living for today only, with no regard for the return of Jesus and the accounting that He will demand? Are you foolishly putting it out of your mind by thinking, “I’ve got time”? (which by the way is the enemy’s best weapon, tricking you into thinking you have all kinds of time.) Jesus says that we should be “like men who are waiting for their master when he returns.” We should live each day with an eye on that future day when, in 1 Thessalonians we’re told, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” Can you see that?? I can and it excites me. We will all be so totally blessed if the Master finds us ready when He comes. Yeah? So let’s, everyone of us, be dressed, ready for service, and with our lamps burning saying, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..