Message from Scripture: 4/23/2021

 

Our message from Scripture today is Matt. 24:42. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”

 

It is an interesting term Jesus uses when He tells His disciples to be alert. It literally means to be awake, not to sleep. He used the same term when He went to the garden to pray, but found them asleep, and urged them to wake up, as He desperately needed their encouragement as the hour approached for His crucifixion.

 

Beyond being physically asleep, it means to be awake spiritually, to give one’s full attention to the will of God and the life it calls us to live. We should give full attention to the spiritual, to overcome fleshly desires, as we do not know when our Lord will return, or when we will pass from this life either. We want to be found ready at these times, and have confidence in how the Lord will find us spiritually, pleasing and acceptable to Him.

 

Peter encourages us, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). To be watchful is to be spiritually awake, aware of what is going on around us, of what God has called us to be, and practicing His precepts to live faithfully for Him. We must constantly be watching our Christian walk so that we don’t fall into one of Satan’s snares.

 

One way to do this is commended to us by Paul in Col. 4:2. “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” Paul also reminds us that Christ died, “So that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thess. 5:10-11). Being thankful and encouraging helps us be awake and alert in Christ.

 

Today, let’s be spiritually aware, awake, that we might serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with gladness. God bless.

 

Robert