Luke 12:40 “So keep being alert and ready at all times. For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect him.” Today's verse is reminding us to be alert and ready at all times. Today’s verse is a great reminder not only of how we should live our lives in order to get into heaven, but it is a good reminder that none of us know when we will leave this earth. It is a good reminder not to leave things unsaid and not wait for our loved ones to make the first move. This episode reminds us tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us. So live today like it is your last. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Be Ready At All Times
Luke 12:40 “So keep being alert and ready at all times. For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect him.”
This verse reminded me of a conversation I had with my confirmation kids one year when I was teaching the confirmation class. We were talking about confession and why it is so important to go to confession. We were also talking about how God always forgives us when we ask for forgiveness. No matter what we have done or how long ago it was. The kids were asking, what if someone sinned their whole life, they did really bad things, and then on their deathbed, they asked for forgiveness? Would God forgive them? I said yes. They said that didn’t seem fair.
Then I asked them, “If someone was sinning their whole life. If they did one bad thing after another. Did they think that person would actually ask for forgiveness in the end?” They said probably not. The thing about sin is that it drives a wedge between you and the Lord. It fractures your relationship. The more you sin, the further away you feel. You might start off with a plan to sin as much as you like because you know that at any point, you can ask God for forgiveness, and He will give it to you. And yet, the more you sin, the more you harden your heart. By the time you get to the end of your life, you don’t care if God forgives you because you are so far away from Him, you forget what it is like to feel His love.
This verse is telling us to be alert and ready at all times. I think we can all slip into a comfortable feeling where we know we may need to go to confession at some point, but it's okay to put it off a bit. Or we know we need to give something up or stop doing something, and yet we figure there is always tomorrow. Guess what? There might not be tomorrow. None of us know the day and the time that we will die. None of us know when the Son of Man will return. What the Bible tells us in more than one place is that it will be when we least expect it. Today’s verse says, “For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect him.”
It doesn’t say you might be surprised, or I think the Son of Man’s coming might be a surprise. It says, “For I promise you that the Son of Man will surprise you and appear when you don’t expect him.” This is a promise. Jesus is coming, and we have no idea when, but we do know that we won’t expect it. This means we should always be ready for it. We shouldn’t put things off until tomorrow. If we truly lived this way, I believe our lives would be transformed!
Imagine a life where you didn’t procrastinate. Where you didn’t put off calling that person you have been meaning to call but haven’t. Imagine a world where you didn’t hold a grudge because if you did, it meant God was going to hold a grudge against you. You do know that is what the Bible says, right? Do you know that is what it says in the prayer Jesus taught us to say? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” God is going to forgive us to the same extent that we forgive others. Learning that truly was life-changing for me.
As soon as I learned that, I made a decision to learn how to let things go. I made a decision to no longer stay or hold onto a grudge. Whatever it is that someone did to me, it is not worth my eternal salvation. Forgiveness is not easy, especially if someone hurt us deeply. However, missing out on eternal salvation or spending eternity in hell because of that unforgiveness would be a lot harder. I have heard stories of people going to hell because of unforgiveness in their hearts, and I don’t want that to be me.
Today’s verse is a great reminder not only of how we should live our lives in order to get into heaven, but it is a good reminder that none of us know when we will leave this earth. It is a good reminder to not leave things unsaid and not wait for our loved ones to make the first move. What if we all lived our lives like this was our last day on earth? What would our day look like? What would our lives look like? How much more fully would we live our lives if we knew we wouldn’t see our loved ones again?
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I love Thanksgiving. It is one of best holidays with my family. My siblings and I gather at my mom and dad’s house the day before to help cut up the veggies and make all the desserts. It is a time of so much fun, love, and laughter. Then we get together on Thanksgiving and eat amazing food and talk, laugh and usually play games or watch movies. I love it. It is probably my favorite holiday. I was really looking forward to it.
Wednesday night, one of my sons got in trouble at the mall. We were unsure what that meant for his job as he works at the mall. Thursday morning, he was really upset and wanted to go for a bike ride, and we said no because it was pouring rain out. He went anyway. Then Tony and I fought about whether we should go to CT or not while he was out on his bike ride. I decided I didn’t want to miss out on my favorite holiday with my family, and I left.
I was praying with the Lord while I drove, and he put on my heart that I should be home with Tony and Ryan. They were both upset, and I wouldn’t have any fun at my mom’s if I was thinking about them. Also, I really wanted to be there for them to support them. So, instead, I stopped and got Tony’s favorite drink, a French Vanilla cappuccino, and some soda for the boys at Cumberlands and some pizza at Dominoes since I didn’t have Thanksgiving food to cook at home, and we just chilled out for the day. Sam watched a movie with us, which doesn’t happen much anymore, and it was a good day.
The reason I tell you this is because, in the past, I would have just gone to CT and spent the time with my mom and dad and then come home still angry at the fight I had with Tony. God has been working on my heart, though, and I knew I wanted to be there with Tony to talk things out and not stew over anything we might have said to one another. I might have started learning how to forgive because of fear of not being forgiven by the Lord, but now I forgive because it provides a freedom that I never knew before.
Today’s verse reminds us that we need to be ready. When our time is up, our time is up. Most of the time, there are no second chances. This verse is a gift to us. It is reminding us that we can strive to live each day like it is our last and then we will be ready for the Lord when He comes. We all know Jesus is coming back to judge the living and the dead. This verse promises us that we won’t know when until He gets here. So, knowing that, what are were going to do about it? Are you going to keep putting things off, or are we going live more intentionally and fully today!
Dear heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening today. Lord, we want to live more fully, please help us. We want to be able to forgive. Please help us. We want to not procrastinate and we want to say what is on our mind when it is on our mind. Please help us! Lord, we are a mess and we need your help. Put on our hearts any ways in which we need to be ready for your coming. Change us Lord. Mold our hearts to be one with your heart! We love you, Lord, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in May 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “We're all at different places. Some just sit on the shore and look at it and think it's beautiful, but they're afraid to go in. Some go in and learn how to maneuver in it, learning how to swim or stay afloat in that water. Then there are others who've gone on, and they're now much more at ease in that water. They're frolicking. They're playing ball. They're doing whatever.”