Preparing for His Return

May, 2007

by: Brock Bolde

Let me start off by asking you a question! If you knew that Jesus was going to come by your home some time next month, just to spend some time with you and your family, what things would you start changing now in order to prepare for His visit? Would you paint the outside of your house? Buy some new flowers to replace the weeds that have taken over your planter? Would you kick it into hyper-drive and finally get started on that list of projects that you just haven’t had the time to get to yet? Or, would your focus be a little deeper – perhaps extending beyond the physical structure of your home? Would you seek to change the way that your family lives; how your family spends the majority of its time; how your family speaks to one another; how your family pursues Jesus Christ?

Thinking about things like these can have a very sobering effect on us. It can remind us of the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

As parents, it is critical that we manage our lives and families in light of this great truth. Too many of us are treating lightly the fact that Jesus rose from the grave (Matthew 28:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:14), appeared before multiple eyewitnesses (Acts 1:3, 13:31), and will return in the not too distant future (John 14:2-3; Acts 1:11). How foolish some of us have become by concerning ourselves with the things of this world – pouring countless amounts of time and resources into our homes and leisure activities while neglecting the weightier things such as character and conduct! How many of us have wrongly communicated to our children just how it is a Christian man or woman is to conduct himself in this world! Let us make no mistake about it. Jesus is coming back soon – perhaps He will have already come back by the time this gets to you. Are you ready? If so, then keep on pouring your life into those things that matter; keep on living with your eyes fixed on eternity; keep teaching your children how to be “shrewd as serpents but as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). If you’re not ready however, then let me challenge you to start getting ready today. Let me encourage you to start living your life in light of the fact that Jesus is coming back; let me exhort you to turn away from the vanity of this world and start living in light of the fact that your Lord and Master will be coming back, soon! Your children need to see you living as if Jesus were coming to visit your home, today.

The time is near – what will Jesus’ return bring to you? Will Jesus call you a “wicked” and “lazy slave” or will He utter the words that each of us should strive to hear – “Well done, good and faithful slave… enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21)? How we manage the families that God has entrusted to our care is a big deal. May each of us labor in such a way that both we and our children would be greatly blessed; both in this life and the one to come!