HOW SHOULD WE LIVE IN LIGHT OF THE IMMINENT RETURN OF JESUS?

Imagine that your in-laws told you in September that they are going to come and visit you “for the holidays.” You don’t know whether they mean they will be here for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years. So, you have to plan and prepare for their arrival at any time. As you prepare for relatives with a “TO DO LIST,” so should we have a list of things to do in anticipation of the return of Jesus. Here is a suggested list: 

1.  Live a godly life: Titus 2:12-13 “. . . say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope-the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

2.  Never set dates for his return: Acts 1:7 “It is NOT for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” Matt 24:36 “No one knows that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

3.  Don’t isolate yourself from other Christians: Heb 10:24-25 “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

4.  Don’t be troubled by world events: John 14:1-3 “Do not let your heart by troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me.”

5.  Don’t be deceived by false teachers: 2 Thess 2:1-3 “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him . . . Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way.”

6.  Minister to others: James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Matt 25:40 “. . . whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

7.  Don’t fear the Tribulation: 1 Thess 1:9-10 “. . . They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us FROM (not THROUGH) the coming wrath.

8.  Encourage one another: I Thess 4:18 “Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

 

So, how are you doing on your “TO DO LIST”?