If you’ve been a believer for any length of time, you know that Jesus is coming back one day, and on that day, we won’t want to be caught sleeping on the job. We want to be eagerly waiting for him. But that can be difficult, especially if you are one who thinks that Jesus won’t - or even can’t come back in your lifetime. Even if that belief were true, Jesus warns us to behave like he can come back at any time. In Luke chapter 21 verses 34 through 36 Jesus 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. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
We can’t lose sight of the inevitable. Either Jesus will return while we are alive, or we will one day die and meet him. In either case, we don’t know when it will happen, so we must always be on watch because Jesus warns us that it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth – so that leaves no one out. Even if you are able to escape the calamity that will happen as described in the scriptures, we all will one day stand before the Son of Man, so I encourage you to always be on watch.
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The fate of the world has already been foretold, so what is happening and what will happen should come as no surprise. But the timing will come as a surprise to all of us. That being the case, Jesus warns us to always be on the watch. I encourage you to live as if at any moment you might stand before the Son of Man. In doing so, even if you are taken by surprise by dying suddenly or witnessing Jesus’ return, you will avoid falling into the trap that many will find themselves in.