As we begin another new year, many will be planning and hoping for a great new year. Some will be happy that 2023 is behind them as if the changing of the calendar page will make a difference. They hope and anticipate a difference in their lives as they make resolutions for change. One of the most popular resolutions will be to lose weight. Some will resolve to be a better employee, to work harder to better themselves and their family financially. Others will be determined to work harder to be a better spouse, parent, child, or friend. The list could go on and on because of the diversity of needs of each of us. However, the most important resolution will be the one least chosen. I believe the most important resolution any of us can make is to live every day as if Jesus were coming today.
None of us know when our last day on this earth will be. We plan for the future as if there is no end. Yet the truth is, we are all going to die, or we will be here when Jesus returns. Either way, we need to be planning for that day. We need to be ready at all times because no one knows when that day will be. The only certainty is that it will happen. Jesus himself does not know when He will return. Only God the Father knows that date. One day He will look to His Son, who is now sitting at His right hand, and tell Him to go and bring His children home.
Mark 13:32 “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
Wow, what a day that will be when Jesus splits the eastern sky and returns for those who have trusted Him as Lord and Savior. Those who have already died will have a bodily resurrection that will unite their new body with their spiritual body that has been residing in Heaven with God. We who are still alive will be changed in a moment and rise to meet Him in the air. I can only imagine what that day will be like.
I Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
This is what I am looking for in 2024! I want to be ready, doing all I can to make sure I live a life that challenges others to be ready also. For those who are ready, and looking for Him, it will be the greatest day of their life, but for those not ready it will be the worst day of their life.
Today, you will make a choice. Each day we live we will choose whether to be ready or not. We will choose to live as if today were our last or to ignore the inevitable. Which will you choose?
Excellent. I needed that.