It is all too easy to play the emphasis game. Here we recognize the importance of balance on a given issue, but accuse others of being unbalanced. Consider faith and works. We all agree, I trust, that it is the work of Christ alone by which we are reconciled with the Father, and our works cannot add to or subtract from His love for us. We all agree as well, I trust, that having been reconciled our calling is to live in obedience to God’s law as an expression of our love and gratitude toward Him. So far, so good. The trouble is that when we hear people beating the drum for faith alone we grow fearful they are drowning out the call to obedience. Or, when we hear people beating the drum of the call to obedience we grow fearful they are drowning out the glorious truth that our peace is secure in Christ. So we chasten the other guy for his lack of balance and praise ourselves for getting it right.
The same thing is true with respect to discerning the times. The Bible is abundantly clear that we are to watch expectantly for the return of the King. We are to discern the times, to be watchmen on the wall. Yea and amen. Central, however, to being prepared for His return is being about the business He has given us. If the Master returns to find His grapes rotting on the ground, His olive press broken down and His harvest not yet gathered the steward cannot excuse himself by saying, “I couldn’t do any of that work. I spent the whole time you were away in the watchtower keeping my eyes on the horizon waiting for you.” On the other hand, the steward would likewise fail were he so consumed with bringing in the sheaves that he wasn’t prepared to greet his master.
I wouldn’t be surprised that if Jesus were to return tomorrow He would find many of us missing Him because our eyes are squinting trying to discern the times. We’d be elbow deep in interpreting the meaning of Covid and connecting Cultural Marxism to the coming One World Government so that they’d fit into our chart of the end times that we’d miss that time was ending. In like manner I wouldn’t be surprised if many miss His return because our hands are planting trees, while our minds are laying out hundred-year plans, pressing the crown rights of King Jesus.
Balance then. We have work to do, a Great Commission to fulfill. That commission includes not just proclaiming the gospel but teaching the nations to obey whatsoever Jesus has commanded. We are called, as the bride of Christ, the last Adam, as the last Eve, to be a help suitable to Him as He brings all things under subjection. And we are to keep our lamps burning with the oil of the Spirit as we await His return.
When He returns may He find us both working and watching. He will do so if, from now until He returns, we work and we watch.
Those are great points! Thank you for all you do!