be ready

"You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

What does it mean to be ready for Jesus to return? Is that even possible? How can one be ready for the final and permanent in-breaking of the Kingdom of God? Seems like a lot to ask of those who are fumbling along as best we can in this thing called faith.

Yet, we can, in some ways, be prepared. We can do our best today to make this world as much like the next. We can take care of the poor, the widows, the orphans. We can wage peace with our enemies. We can be faithful to our God and our families. We can do the best at our work and our play for the glory of God. We can, in some ways, be prepared.

I've mentioned before the charge that Brian McLaren has given. He asserts that much of modern evangelicalism is based on the assumption that Jesus is coming back tonight. He takes the negative view of what that means; "nothing matters, cuz Jesus will fix it all (or in some camps Jesus will destroy it all)." So he calls us to live as if Jesus isn't coming back tonight. But I wonder if there isn't some benefit to living as if Jesus were coming back tonight. Wouldn't you want to be proud of the earth he came back to? Wouldn't you want Jesus, the one through whom all things were made, to find a healthy earth where the environment, the poor, and the outcast were being intentionally taken care of in His name? Maybe we can see a positive motivation in living as if Jesus were coming back tonight. Maybe it will help us to prepare ourselves and the rest of Creation for his return.

"You must be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an unexpected hour."