Covered

 

Therefore stay alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  Matthew 24:42-44

What does it mean to be ready for Jesus’ return? Well, logic would state that you’d be in a place of having your sins forgiven, that there would be no debt against you so that you’d be ready to go with Him to heaven. How do various people see this to be possible? In the Jewish faith, this happens typically on the Day of Atonement when the priests offer sacrifices for the people to make them right with God. So, what are the odds that Jesus would come back on that day? About one in 354 (there are about 354 days in the Jewish calendar year). Not good odds if you ask me. In Catholicism, people go to confessional where they confess their sins to a priest to receive their discipline and absolution. So, I guess they’re hoping Jesus would come back sometime between when they’ve done this and when they sin again? I guess those odds have to do with how often they go to confession. For me, that’d have to be at least once an hour! I guess I can understand why someone would want to live in the temple courts in the old days.

I am so grateful that today I have another option! I don’t think my body would hold up well to sleeping on the stone pavement… You see, when Jesus died for our sins two thousand years ago, He did so once for ALL of our sins. That means the sins we committed before we came to know Him as well as the ones we would commit after we gave our lives over to Him. I wish that confessing Jesus as my Savior meant that I didn’t sin anymore, but alas that is not the case. I am still made of the same flesh and prone to the same weaknesses, it’s just that now I am not bound to them. Now I have an escape, I just don’t always remember to take it. Thankfully, Jesus knew that would happen and He made a way for me.

So how do I stay ready for my Savior? Every time I am made aware of sin in my life, I confess it (say it’s wrong), repent from it (turn away from the sin and back to Jesus), and follow God. So, when I catch myself shaming my body in the mirror I say, “God doesn’t want me to think like that. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. God thinks I’m beautiful, and He’s a whole lot smarter than me. I’m going to believe Him. God I’m sorry for thinking mean things about the body You gave me. Please help me to be thankful and positive about who I am and how I’m made. Thank You for how You’ve made me and how You’ve used me.” The hope is that it changes my thinking, at least for a while.

Here’s the Thing: It’s sad how insidious the world’s way of thinking is, but it just works its way into our minds and poisons things. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is at work in us, convicting us of the truth and pointing us to freedom.