Living For What's To Come

Mark 13.  That's a whole lot to cover in one day, for sure.  But the point Jesus was making was clear.

Be on guard.  Be ready.  Stay awake.

There is something to the idea of living in light of what's to come versus what's right in front of us.  There is something to living our lives on earth with the focus of eternity on the front of our minds.  That's what this passage was about.  That's what Jesus was trying to get his disciples to focus on.

Not buildings.
Not their own fame or notoriety.
Eternity.

The hard part we all deal with is remaining focused and staying awake to the reality of eternity.  Being on guard for those things that distract or distort Jesus' teachings.

I used a couple illustrations on Sunday to help us understand this.  First, I talked about my daughter, Hope and having to set a timer to make sure she cleaned her room.  She did so and planned for the timer to go off, which is what we need to do.  She is 4 so she doesn't really grasp the concept of time.  She sort of does, but the bottom line was she knew the timer would go off at some point and she just wanted to be ready.  This is what we need to do.  We don't know when exactly Jesus will come back, but we know he will.  We just need to be ready.

Are you living in light of the fact that "the timer" is going to go off at some point?

Secondly, I used the illustration of staying awake in a car while driving.  Late at night, if you are tired, the last thing you do is roll up the windows and turn the heat on.  Similarly, in life there are simply some things we should not do if we want to stay awake to the reality of Jesus' return.  These are different for all of us, but we still must stay awake.  To do so we also need to do some things.  For me, if I'm driving late at night, there are some things I do to stay awake.  BBQ sunflower seeds work well for me.  I like Hot Tamales.  Each of us are different, but like driving at night, we need to be intentional about doing certain things that keep us awake.

What is one thing you can do to better stay awake to the reality of Christ's return?

Thirdly, I used the extension chord.  The plug-in at one end of it represented our life on earth.  The rest of the chord represented eternity.  My point was simple: live our time on earth in light of the rest of the chord.

Be on guard during that short time.  Stay awake to the fact that this life is not the end.  There is much, much more to come.

When our lives come to an end we will take nothing with us.  So, living for what we can't keep doesn't make sense when we can live for what we know we will have for eternity.  What is that?  What can we be certain we will have for eternity?

Jesus.

He is who we live for.  Let's stay focused.  Be on guard and become more and more intentional about staying awake.