Where's Your Sense of Urgency?
Matthew 24:42-44
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Daphne and her family were leaving soon for vacation. A one week trip to Disneyworld. They had a 7 am flight out of DFW. The night before, she’d made sure all the kids (and her husband) were packed. She set her alarm for 3:45 am. They’d be out the door by 4:30. Get to the airport by 5.
Daphne did wake up at 3:45. But her husband ignored the alarm. Her kids, 11 and 9, didn’t set one. “I’ll give them five minutes,” she thought. The car was already packed after all. They just had to eat quick and get going. At 3:50, she started playing “It’s A Small World After All” on the Bluetooth stereo. Nothing. She went and knocked at her kids’ doors. “I’m up. I’m up.” Snore…. Her husband got up and promptly sat down on the couch and dozed off. He’d been up late playing puzzle games on his smart phone.
At 3:55, she got out a pot and a metal spoon. She clanged it as loud as she could. Finally, the kids came out of their rooms. Her daughter, the older child, went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and leaned on the door while looking for breakfast. Her son went into the bathroom, where he curled up on the bath mat. Her husband went out to the garage to catch a few winks in the driver’s seat.
They were all dragging their feet. They wanted to go to Disneyworld. But they were tired. Their beds called to them. They were going to miss their flight.
Finally, at 4:10, Daphne couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t stand leaving even a minute late. So she yelled, “Where’s your sense of urgency?”
Daphne and her family knew where their flight would take off. They knew when they needed to get to the airport. What about Jesus’ coming? He tells us, “The Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Yes, 2,000 years have passed since Jesus went back into heaven. We know he will come back. But he didn’t tell us when. And when you’re saying, “Any day now,” for 2,000 years, it kind of starts to lose its meaning.
It starts to lose its meaning long before 2,000 years. How long have you been waiting for Jesus’ return? 1 year? 10? 30? 50? 80? Because we stay in this world, it’s easy for us to get caught up in what’s going on here and wait until to get ready for Jesus to come.
Jesus compares his coming to a thief. You don’t know when a thief is going to break in. You have to be ready for him. That means putting locks on the doors. Maybe buying a state-of-the-art alarm system. Putting cameras around your house. You want to be proactive rather than reactive.
Are you ready for Jesus? He may come back for us all or he may just come for you. You, like billions of others, may die before the Last Day comes. Your death may come earlier than you expect. Take a moment to consider your readiness. Your priorities. Where’s your sense of urgency?
How do we prepare for Jesus’ coming? The Holy Spirit prepares us as we study his Word about Jesus. On the Last Day, Jesus will judge the living and the dead. “The [wicked] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). Who are these righteous? “These are they who … have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). Through the Word, the Holy Spirit washes us clean of our sins and presents us as pure before God. Because of Jesus, we have no reason to fear the Last Day, no reason to fear the day of our death.
Where’s your sense of urgency? “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4). “And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23).