Did you wake up this morning thinking today might be Judgment Day?
Most of us didn’t. We wake up some mornings and imagine our own personal world is coming to an end. Maybe a loved one has just died, our financial house is caving in, we’ve been laid off, or some such personal disaster. But awake and think that Jesus might come back today? Probably not.
We get all kinds of smoke about what Advent is about, but the fire of it all is supposed to be Jesus. He’s the One God has appointed to “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31). The earliest Christians thought the interval between Jesus’ Ascension and Judgment Day would be short but it’s gotten a lot longer than they expected; so it’s understandable that we don’t wake up thinking that this might be That Day.
Here’s one motivator for you to be more Jesus-minded. “Since you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourself with fear” (1 Peter 1:17). This is not slavish fear or cowering fear. This does not mean you should be a fearful person. It does mean that in today’s interactions with other people, you should be restrained and guarded by the constant awareness that you’re not entitled to any special consideration on Judgment Day. Your final Judge is impartial. Oh, oh! We’re in trouble; hence Advent is a season of repentance.
“It should be observed that this is no contradiction of the doctrine that we are saved by grace through faith; it is, in fact, the necessary complement of that doctrine; for the life of faith, and that alone, will issue in the ‘work’ that God can approve, with partiality” (F.W. Beare; John 6:29). “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness!” That’s why the Bible couples the fear of God with the love of God.
Christmas trees and lights, special church services, get-togethers…means to the goal, and the goal is Jesus. “Did not our hearts burn within us?” (Luke 24:32)
“Did not
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