If Christ Is Coming Back, What Difference Should It Make in How We Live Today? (Part 2)

And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward."

Luke 12:42

In yesterday’s reflection, I began to wrestle with the question of how the promised return of Christ might make a difference in how we live each day. We saw that Jesus said we are to live in readiness for his return. But what does this mean? How can we be ready when Christ returns?

Jesus answers this question by using an illustration from everyday life. Suppose a master is going away for a while. He entrusts responsibility for managing his household to one of his servants. A foolish servant would use the master’s absence as an opportunity to abuse the other servants while indulging his base appetites with too much food and drink, all on the master’s ticket. When the master returns unexpectedly, the foolish servant will be punished for his abusive and wasteful behavior.

In contrast to the foolish servant, Jesus explains: “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.” The wise servant was ready for his master’s return, not because he spent his efforts trying to project the time of that return, but because he did well what the master had given him to do.

Readiness for the return of our Master means, therefore, not that we focus on trying to predict when he’ll come back, but rather that we live faithfully according to our Master’s instructions. In a nutshell, this involves living each moment under the reign of God as citizens of his kingdom. We’ll be ready for Jesus to come back if we bear witness to him in word and in deed, generously giving away the good news of the kingdom, the blessings God has entrusted to us, and even our own lives. I will be fully ready for the return of my Master when I am intentionally following him in every avenue of my life.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Are you ready for Jesus to return? Are you living as a “faithful, sensible servant” of Jesus each day, in every facet of your life? In what contexts of your life do you need to discover how to live under God’s reign more consistently?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I want to be ready when you return, if you should do so within my lifetime. But even if you come back after I am gone, I want, nevertheless, to live each day as a citizen of the kingdom, bringing all of my life under the reign of God. Help me, by your Spirit, to see all of my life as an opportunity to honor you. May I live under your kingdom when I’m sitting meetings or sitting in traffic, when I’m dreaming about the future or struggling with worry. May you rule over me in every situation, every relationship, every opportunity, every action.

All praise be to you, my gracious Master and my God. Amen.