Happy Are the Watchful

I am a pedestrian.  Oh, I drive when I have to, but I prefer to walk.  That can be a very dangerous activity.  On many days I am convinced that only in third world countries that have no traffic laws can there possibly be worse drivers than in our city.  Instead of raising our taxes every year, our city could install some traffic cameras and pay the entire city budget with penalties for poor drivers.  If someone else were watching, maybe I could walk more safely.  But I am the one walking, so ultimately I am the one to be watching.  It is my life that is at stake, after all.

In Luke 12 Jesus said that those servants who were watching for their master were the happy ones.  The diligent servants did set up a watchman for their master’s return.  They were watching for it themselves.  How were they watching?  They were watching by doing what was expected of them – being diligent servants.  The master would say to them, “Well done.”  That would make any servant happy.

Jesus made this comment in the context of His return. One of these days He will return.  We don’t know when, but it will happen.  Since it hasn’t happened yet many people have ceased to expect it.  Not expecting His return leads to slovenly work for the Master.  Or it leads to no work at all for the Master.  We have been assigned work to do.  We can’t do it in the ten minutes notice that we would get if we sent someone to the hilltop to see Him coming and then try to get it all done in a hurry.  He left us enough work to do that it will take all our time in the doing of it until He comes again.  Then He will commend the faithful servants and they will be happy. 

The only way I can get happily home from my walks each day is to diligently watch for bad drivers.  No diligence would mean no happy return.  It is like that with Christ.  We must watch.  He told us to do so.  We must work while we watch.  He told us to do so.  He will return.  He promised us He would do so.  Eliza Hewitt wrote “The Happy Crowning Day”.  Here is the first stanza and chorus.  “There’s an hour which no man knoweth, nor the angels round the throne, when the Lord shall come in glory from the sky; all the saints shall rise to meet Him, for He calleth for his own; they shall hear the trumpet sounding by and by.  Are you ready? Ready? Looking for the King? Ready, while you labor, watch and pray? Are you ready? Ready? Looking for the King? Ready for the happy crowning day?”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work.