Living In Anticipation.

     Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.
                                        Matthew 24:42 NASB

     Jesus exhorts us to live in anticipation of His coming. As we do not know the day nor the hour of His return, we are to live as if He could come at any moment.
     It seems that as time goes on, and He has not yet returned, many become careless and complacent. The tendency is to get caught up in the affairs of this life, and to take our eyes off of Jesus.


    Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
      Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
     But if that evil slave says in his heart "My master is not coming for a long time," and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
                                        Matthew 24:45-51 NASB

     Sadly this is what happens so often. As time goes on our anticipation of Christ's return diminishes. Maybe it is because our love grows cold (Matt 24:12; Rev 2:4). We see professing Christians begin to nit pick one another, rather than build each other up in the faith. We see our brothers and sisters fall into sin. We see churches and denominations tolerate and accept gross immorality within their ranks, in defiance to the Word of God.
     As Christ's body here on the earth, we need to be about His business. We have a charge to keep, souls to rescue, brothers and sisters to strengthen in the faith. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Christ, lest He come at a time when we do not expect Him, catching us unaware.