by Rev Steve Nickodemus

Keep Watch!

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
Matthew 24:42

Imagine the surprise of my neighbors, Gary and Helen, when they woke up to see a hot air balloon in their driveway!  Suddenly, and without warning, they had an unexpected visitor from out of the sky!  Helen said, “We were surprised, and not at all ready for that!”.

Our Lord Jesus said that it will be the same when He comes again in glory to judge both the living and the dead.  Many will be completely surprised and not at all ready for Him to arrive.  They will be going about their daily business, behaving as if God was not present in their lives,  and their lives will be ignoring the fact that you, and I, owe everything to the Lord who created and redeemed us.

We often see balloons floating across the sky near our neighborhood, but it had never occurred to any of us that one might land in our yard.  Even so, the signs of God’s creation are everywhere around us daily.  If we care to see Him, God’s Word in Jesus is near us and it is “in our mouth and our heart.”  The Lord graciously makes Himself available daily to all who would lift up their eyes, and their hearts, and call upon His name.

The Lord Jesus warns us, His disciples, to “keep watch, for we do not know on what day our Lord will come.”  Therefore, I say to you all, keep watch!  Call upon Him daily.  Confess your sins and your need for Him.  Daily meditate on His Word.  Live as if this is the day the Lord will return.

For you never know when you might have an unexpected Guest from out of the blue!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado