“Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!” (Luke 12:37-38)
2019 was a year filled with great evil, chaos, violence, and division. 2020 promises more of the same. Millions of people continue to lash out at others with bitterness and hate on broadcast and social media to protest those things they feel are great injustices and those people they deem to be evil incarnate. The fact is, according to God’s Word, all human beings are sinners, all are condemned for all fall short of the glory of God.
In these days of great evil we Christians ought not to succumb to such malicious invective. We are not to be discouraged or filled with fear over the evil of our times because these are signs that Jesus is returning soon.
In the gospel parables we read for New Year’s Eve, Jesus conveyed to us a need for urgency and constant readiness. We are His servants. We must be doing the work of His Kingdom at all times. We are to be in a constant state of alert, and so we cannot be idle. We must keep our lamps eburning. We must constantly be doing the work of the Lord, doing Kingdom business. We are to live lives marked by righteousness, avoiding the appearance of evil. This is so that the light of the gospel will always shine in and through us to give God glory but also to lead lost, hurting and confused souls to the light of God’s truth by the testimony of our faith.
The problem is that we may think that by devoting ourselves to Kingdom of God we will miss out on all the fun and happiness life has to offer, all the glitz and glamour that the media and our culture tell us we cannot live without. But Jesus says those who live in the light of His Second Coming are truly blessed.