Jesus teaches that since we don't know when the end begins, we should focus on being ready - continuing to live as Jesus taught.
Matthew 24:42-51 42 Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming...
"Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.
48 But if that wicked slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. 51 He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Okay, I want to ignore the part about "cutting the 'servant gone bad' into pieces." Interesting thing for Jesus to say. Do you think he means it? He makes a strong point that his followers shouldn't grow weary of following him. It especially makes God very upset if we start abusing our position and hurting others. I think God knew that would be our tendency. Things get rough for those following the teaching of Jesus... they take it out on each other and others... they take his name in vain... they use God for their own gain. Jesus is saying that God won't put up with that.
As I watched the political ads this week, politician after politician touted their "god fearing" character. I hope they really do have that character. Because if they are just claiming to follow Jesus in order to get the vote... if they don't really plan to follow Jesus' teachings - even the hard ones - while in office... well, that's not so good.
Do we ignore Jesus' warning not to stray?
No comments:
Post a Comment