Preparing For His Return: Luke 12:35-59
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BibleStudyCam
 March 28 2025
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    Part way through Jesus’ ministry, while teaching the disciples, Jesus shares a powerful illustration about always being ready for His return. This illustration opens with Jesus telling His disciples, “Be dressed, ready for service, and have your lamps shining. Be like servants who are waiting for their master to come home from a wedding party. When he comes and knocks, the servants immediately open the door for him. They will be blessed when their master comes home, because he sees that they were watching for him.” (v. 35-37a)

    The servants in this parable are blessed because they are ready when the master arrives because they were watching for him. While the servants don’t know exactly when that night the master would return, they determine that it is better to prepare for his arrival as if it were happening within the next five minutes, while also being conscious that it might be another few hours.

    In our own lives, when we look forward to Jesus’ “soon” return, we have the same challenge that the servants in this illustration have. While it would be amazing for Jesus to return tomorrow and end this age in history, it would be foolish to base 100% of our decisions as if this hope were fact.

    Equally foolish would be always believing that Jesus’ return will always be months, years, or even decades in the future. Believing that we have plenty of time to prepare – in the future – will guarantee that we will be caught unprepared.

    With these two ideas pulling us in opposite directions, we should learn to manage this tension and filter our decisions through both filters. Wisdom in the servant’s case is watching and being ready, but not assuming or guessing the time of the master’s arrival. Wisdom in our case is always being ready for Jesus to come within this hour, but also understanding that we must not do things that would harm us long-term if His return is later than we expected it to be.

    What do you think? Do you agree/disagree? Leave your thoughts below.

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