Jesus is Returning

What will you be doing when our Lord returns?  If you read the Bible there can be little doubt that His return could come at any time.  There are many schools of thought regarding the time of His return.  Will He return before the Great Tribulation, will it occur sometime during the Tribulation, or perhaps at the end of the Tribulation?  Will He really return at all?  What happens when He does return?  Questions, questions and more questions, and this is only an abbreviated list.  The one really important question question is are you ready, and what are you doing to take others with you? 

Many people are of the false assumption that just because they are nice people, and have lived a good life that they will go to Heaven someday.  But is that really the case?  The time of His return is not the issue.  Whether or not you have been a good person is not the issue.  What is at issue is whether or not YOU have accepted HIM as your Lord, and are you leading others to Him.  You may say "But I go to church every Sunday, and I don't do bad things.  Mom and Dad and my grandparents taught me right from wrong, and I work hard and provide for my family.  I, therefore, am a good person so why would I not go to Heaven someday?"  The Bible is very clear that there is only one way to Heaven - acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The New Testament scriptures are replete with admonitions and warnings that there is but one way to Heaven - Jesus.  There are also clues in the Old Testament revealing that some day things are going to change, and only the faithful will be saved.  Now I make it a habit to read a chapter of Proverbs every day.  This morning I was reading Proverbs 2 and in verses 10 through 22 lies a promise to those who are faithful: 

¹⁰ When wisdom enters your heart,
      And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,
       ¹¹ Discretion will preserve you;
      Understanding will keep you,
       ¹² To deliver you from the way of evil,
      From the man who speaks perverse things,
       ¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness
      To walk in the ways of darkness;
       ¹⁴ Who rejoice in doing evil,
      And delight in the perversity of the wicked;
       ¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked,
      And who are devious in their paths;
       ¹⁶ To deliver you from the immoral woman,
      From the seductress who flatters with her words,
       ¹⁷ Who forsakes the companion of her youth,
      And forgets the covenant of her God.
       ¹⁸ For her house leads down to death,
      And her paths to the dead;
       ¹⁹ None who go to her return,
      Nor do they regain the paths of life—
       ²⁰ So you may walk in the way of goodness,
      And keep to the paths of righteousness.
       ²¹ For the upright will dwell in the land,
      And the blameless will remain in it;
       ²² But the wicked will be cut off from the earth,
      And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.

As I read this I realized that herein lies a promise of things to come.  Read it again carefully: verse 1 "When wisdom enters your heart..."  Elsewhere we are told that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  The immoral woman mentioned in verse 16 is reference to temptation, and a warning about going down that path.  The  promise begins in verse 21 telling us that the "...the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it."

Yes, Jesus is returning to gather His faithful followers.  Those who are blameless and upright.  Those who are doing His will.  So where are you now in your spiritual walk?  Are you among the upright and blameless and faithful?  Or are you among the wicked and unfaithful?  Jesus told Thomas in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." 

So what will you be doing when He returns?  His commission to us is a relatively simple thing: "...go and make disciples."  Are you going?  Are you making disciples?  If not, today would be a great day to start.  This just could be the Day! 

Have a blessed week.