“… Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless.”
(Ephesians 5:25-27, AMP)
Personally, I’ve always been troubled by this scripture. In my view, the Second Coming won’t come any time soon because the church is veeery far from accomplishing this condition. And then, I seem to be nudged into realizing that I’m looking at the church with secular eyes and not spiritual ones. Secularly, my assessment is that ‘it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon’. Spiritually, if the Lord said it, then it will happen. That’s all I really need to know. He even tells us we won’t know the specifics of His return (Matthew 24:36. Mark 13:32).
…however… my mind sometimes gets in the way and I revert to looking at ‘how’. It’s not an issue of if or when… it’s the how and our role and responsibility about preparing and doing what we need to do for His return. He even asks if there will be faith when He comes (Luke 18:8). Fortunately, scripture tells us what we need to do to prepare so that we are ready (Matthew 25:1-13) and not be like the foolish virgins. Actually, we are given the reason: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (13) And therein lies the focus, the answer, the action. Watch.
Being of the ‘fixer’ inclination, I do want to ‘fix it’ even though I know I can’t and shouldn’t, and really don’t know how. Never the less, in refocusing, I am not without my ‘to do’ list. I can do a great deal as I watch. I can act in the giftings given to me by the Lord and do my part to touch lives for Him. His Commission tells us what is important and how we can be about the Father’s
business.
‘Watch’ is not necessarily a passive activity. Watching is active – you do as you watch. Watching may be waiting but not standing still. We need to be active because…
“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38, AMP)
WE are His feet, His hands, His voice in this world, in our world. We need to be about being those workers in this time of harvest. But we need each other in order to accomplish this goal. As we watch, we work and bring light in a dark world.
“From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love.” (Ephesians 4: 16, AMP)
Watch.
