On Friday I shared my humbling experience of completely forgetting an important speaking event. I mentioned that my initial emotion–when I thought I was hopelessly unprepared–was one of shame.
I felt so ashamed.
How could I have missed this?
Once I sat down, listened to the Father’s voice, and opened up His Word, I realized almost immediately why He had allowed me to feel this aching sense of shame.
I wanted to be prepared for this event. We all want to be prepared for Christmas.
But He wants us to be prepared for His return.
Just as we prepare for His coming, we prepare for His coming again.
As we celebrate His first Advent, we we anticipate His second.
There were those who were woefully unprepared for His coming more than 2,000 years ago. They forgot God’s promises, turned to their own manmade religion, filled their days and calendars with filler-activities.
Remember? It’s easier to shop than wait.
But some were watching and waiting. Even as they were faithfully engaged in the dailiness of life, even as they were diligent in their jobs and attentive to their responsibilities, they still had a sense that the Messiah might break through sometimes soon.
God may interrupt their mundane at any moment.
And that’s exactly what He did. Surprise! He sends Gabriel to visit Zachariah while he’s just going about his daily duties in the temple. Just another day of work, and BOOM! an angel shows up. Same with Mary. She’s going about life, getting ready to be married, and–Surprise!–you’re going to give birth to the Son of God!
Even though they were surprised, they were prepared.
This is exactly how Christ calls us to live now.
The Gospels are chock full of Jesus’ exhortations, constantly telling His people to Watch! Wait! Stay Awake! He warns us not to fall asleep. Through parables and direct statements He hits home this truth over and over and over. We’re wise to pay attention to repeated commands: Jesus is coming back and He’s telling us: Be prepared! Don’t forget His words and fill your days with manmade religion or filler-activities.
Don’t get bored with the gospel and go fill your life with trivial pursuits.
But how do we prepare for Christ’s return? Do we study end-times? Get obsessed over trying to figure out the date? Do we spend every waking hour watching the news and obsess over every International event? Do we stress about when the rapture will be?
Not knocking those things. But Scripture tells us exactly how to be prepared:
1: Remember where home is.
I don’t want to get cozy here and forget this isn’t my home. While we are fully engaged here, we live in that tension of knowing this isn’t all there is. Ultimately, heaven is our home, and heaven is our hope.
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Phil 3:20
2: Wait eagerly.
We will wait eagerly for whatever we most desire. If I want a house in the country, I will eagerly seek and eagerly wait for that. I’ll check listings daily. I’ll dream about it. I’ll plan for it. If we desire Christ, for His kingdom to come and His perfect rule to be established on earth, we’ll wait eagerly for that.
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, He will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” Heb. 9:28
3: Abide in Him.
We continue in Him, remain in Him, constantly stay in fellowship with Him. We get up every morning and seek Him first. We fill our minds and hearts and homes with His truth. We talk to Him, listen to Him, and seek to please Him more and more with every passing day. John gives us a powerful promise near the end of his life:
“And now, dear children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” 1 John 2:28
At the end of Paul’s life, he makes a remarkable statement regarding God’s promise to us who are eagerly watching and waiting for Christ’s return. He says,
“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:8
Like eager children who cannot wait for Christmas, let’s eagerly anticipate the return of our Savior.
{Thank you for reading.}