DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

"Therefore comfort each other and edify each another, just as you also are doing." (I Thessalonians 5:11)

This verse is in the context of the coming day of the Lord (vs. 2) when Jesus will return. What do we do while waiting for His return?  The message is to "keep doing what you are doing."

Believe this or not, I saw a sitcom on television where a black preacher was admonishing his congregation to "take care of business." Of course, the writers of the show turned this to mean something entirely different than we would expect.

Throughout history, Christians have believed the promise that Jesus is coming again – some with more fervency than others. Some think that His return will be a long time in the future. It is tempting to think this way. For the past 70+ years, the message I have heard consistently is that Jesus is going to return soon. But He has not come yet. The temptation is to be lulled to sleep, and say, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation" (II Peter 3:4). In other words, life goes on as it always has. On the other hand, there are those who are so convinced that Jesus is coming in the immediate future that they sell everything they own and go out to a secluded place to wait for his return.

The Bible's approach is neither of these. The consistent message of the Bible is to stay involved and busy in kingdom work until He comes. Jesus told the parable of a nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return. He gave his servants resources and then said to them, "Do business till I come" (Luke 19:11-13). They were not just to twiddle their thumbs until he returned, nor were they to go out and bury the resources that the master had given them. They were to do the business of the kingdom.

The Apostle Paul takes this middle ground approach as we read on in this letter to the believers at Thessalonica. While they are waiting for Jesus' return, they were admonished to stay awake and alert, and to not sleep their lives away. He urged them to exhort each other, to warn the unruly, to comfort the fainthearted, to uphold the weak, to be patient with other people, to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give things in everything, to allow the Spirit to operate, to listen to prophesies, to test all things, to hold fast what is good, and to abstain from every form of evil (verses 14-22). This does not sound like people who are just passing time until Jesus returns. They were to be involved.

Jesus told us to be watching because we don't know when He will return. He said, "Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect," and again, "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 24:44, 25:13). As Christ-followers, we are "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13) – not idly passing our time, nor secluding ourselves from the world, but completing the mission that Jesus has given us to do, eagerly anticipating His wonderful and glorious return. Maranatha!

Love, Dad