Revelation 1:4-8 – John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

THEME OF THE DAY: ARE WE READY? Remember the game hide and seek? Someone would be “it”. The other players would scurry about finding a place to hide. Then the countdown would begin – “five, four, three, two, one, ready or not, here I come.” There is a far more significant coming and it might be soon. It is the return of the Lord Jesus. Go back and read today’s scripture and count the occurrences of the words “come” and “coming.” Do they not saturate the passage as one of its major themes? Jesus is coming. The book of Revelation begins with this truth and ends with this truth. Take a moment today, pause, and look to the sky. He is coming and every eye shall see Him. Every eye.

Are we ready for that day? Better yet, are we living for that day? The whole of the Christian life is to be lived with this event being central in our thinking. We don’t know when it will happen, but we know it will happen. One of the most serious and instructional parables the Lord gave us is that of the ten virgins. It reads, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:1-13).

Pay attention to the last words of Jesus – “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” He is referring to His return. When it comes to spiritual warfare with the devil, one tactic he uses so effectively against Christians is to live not thinking of the day of Christ’s return. Apply my statement to our lives. Did we think of Christ’s return today? Yesterday? Last week? Maybe we cannot remember the last time we thought of His return? Beloved, one of the most important things we do to live a life of holiness and pleasing to the Lord is to think often of His return. The Apostle John wrote, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3). Thinking on Christ’s return detaches us from this sinful world and promotes our holiness. The opposite is also true. Think little of Christ’s return and we become attached to this sinful world and a life of holiness is stopped.

The return of Christ is not just a theological truth. It is practical truth for which the Christian life is to be oriented. Are we ready? Live each day like it is going to happen because someday it will. Jesus lovingly tells us, “Ready or not, here I come.”

PRAYER: “Father, help me to live each day of my life with one eye on the earth and one to the sky.”

QUOTE: “Live everyday as if Christ is coming because one day He will”