1 PETER 1:13 – Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

THEME OF THE DAY. ARE WE WATCHING FOR HIM? A couple of quick questions on today’s nugget theme. Did you think about Jesus’ return today? Yesterday? Last week? If your answer is “no”, then when was the last time you thought on the Second Coming of our Lord? It is extremely important we get a grip on Second-Coming thinking because it is the chief motivator to live a life of holiness and separation from the world. Christians who rarely think on Christ’s return will be worldly, lack zeal in living the Christian life, and find themselves spiritually adrift in the seas of lukewarmness and apathy. The emphasis the Bible places on the Second Coming is significant. There are 1,845 references to it in the Old Testament, and a total of seventeen Old Testament books give it prominence. Of the 260 chapters in the entire New Testament, there are 318 references to the Second Coming, or one out of thirty verses. Twenty-three of the twenty-seven New Testament books refer to this great event. For every prophecy on the First Coming of Christ, there are eight on Christ’s Second Coming. So, if the Bible has that much to say about this event of events, should it not make it into our daily thinking and living? Pondering Jesus’ return is essential to live a life pleasing to Him.

In the Gospels, Jesus gives us strong exhortations to be on watch for His return. Read the Olivet Discourse to get what He is saying to us (Matthew 24 and 25). The Apostle John writes, “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming” (1 John 2:28). To live every day with “an eye to the sky” watching for Jesus is wise, mature, and necessary to prevent being caught off guard when it occurs.

So with those exhortations, let’s close today’s nugget with this moving illustration showing the type of preparation necessary to be pleasing to the Lord upon His return . . .

A traveler chanced upon a beautiful villa on the shores of a beautiful lake in Switzerland far from the beaten path of tourists. The traveler knocked at the garden gate and an aged caretaker met him. He gladly undid its heavy fastenings and bade him enter. The aged man was glad to see the stranger and showed him the wonderful and pristine gardens and a conversation began. “How long have you been here?” inquired the visitor. “Twenty-four years” was the reply. “And how often has the owner and your master been here during this period?” “Four times.” “When was his last visit?” “Twelve years ago.” “Does he write often?” “Never once.” “How do you get paid?” “His agent in the near town.” “Does he ever come?” Never.” “Who does come then?” “Hardly anyone. I am almost always alone.” The visitor then replied, “Yet you have these gardens is such perfect order, everything tidy and beautiful, as if you were expecting your master to come tomorrow!” “No, sir. As if he were coming today.”

PRAYER: “Father, teach me to look daily and live daily in light of the return of Your Son.”

QUOTE: “Nothing prompts holy living more and removes worldliness quicker than to think on Christ’s Second Coming.”