Key Verse: "It
would be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if He
comes in the second or third watch of the night."
Luke 12:38
Now we will
begin a series of teachings by Jesus that admonish us to be vigilant in our
walk with Him. Not only is He watching, He expects us to be watching as well,
watching ourselves so that we are prepared. He will be coming for us, at any
moment and we need to be ready to receive Him. This too is a warning of love.
Jesus’
warning here reminds me of two modern day examples. The first would be of a
baby sitter. The parents are out for the evening. The baby sitter has been
entrusted with the task of feeding the children and putting them to bed. Woe to
that baby sitter if the parents come home at midnight to find their children
still up and unattended. A baby sitter is entrusted with the authority of the
parent while he, she, or they are absent. They are expected to make the house
run as smoothly as possible. You will be called upon again if you do the job
well. You are not hired to talk on the phone, watch movies or raid the fridge.
You may be able to benefit from these things, but the primary reason for your
presence is to care for the children and the household until the parents
return.
The other
example that comes to mind is the soldier on deployment. He or she may be off
duty from patrol, but they are always vigilant for their own sake and the
safety of others. The soldier never knows when the enemy will attack, or from
which direction an attack will come. Also, often they are not informed much in
advance of troop movement, for the sake of safety, but when the command comes
to "move out," they need to be ready to go. The soldier knows that as
long as he wears the uniform, on duty or off, he is in a position of
responsibility.
It is easy to
see, from the examples listed above, that there is blessing and reward for
vigilance. Jesus assures His disciples that it will be the same for them and us
if we never let our guard down so that we won't be caught napping when the
Master comes home.
We need to be
on guard not only for His return, but we also need to recognize that we are in
a war. Peter, one of the disciples listening to Jesus on that evening wrote
later, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in
the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world
are undergoing the same kind of suffering." (1
Peter 5:8-9) James says simply, "Resist the devil and he will flee
from you." (James
4:7B) It's much harder to resist, or stand firm, if you are caught off
guard because you were distracted by other, less important matters.
So how do we
live this out? By knowing our orders. How do we learn our orders? By studying
the command book and by staying in communication with the commander and by
remembering that we are not the authority, but have been entrusted by the
authority to do our duty. Also, we need to remember that we are not "an
army of one." We are part of a body, the Bride of Christ. Lone ranger
Christians can be a danger to themselves and others if they do not stay in
communication with those around them. Imagine a soldier on the front line of
battle, listening to his MP3 player with his headphones. Would you want to
stand next to him? No! We need to stay alert and ready in all situations. In
the end, it will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching,
even if He returns in the middle of the night; "In the twinkling of an
eye."
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