Luke 12:45-47 English Standard Version

45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.

If we tell ourselves this is just a parable, then we are not listening and our hearts are not being conditioned to obey.

When we live this life with Jesus every lesson is a preparation for tomorrow. The day our Lord returns may not come in our lifetime, but with any luck, we will see tomorrow.

Are we ready for tomorrow?

Just because you don’t beat up your servants, are not a glutton or a drunk, does not mean you are obedient. This life in Christ is not about what we don’t do that is wrong, but about doing the will of the Father.

We cannot do the will of the Father if we do not seek Him and ask, “What is your will for me?”

Many of us believe that avoiding sin is all we have to do. Let us take yet another lesson from Jesus.

Matthew 23:23

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

Having the job and the title and doing only what you are willing to do isn’t doing the will of the Father.

Avoid sin, yes, but that alone is not enough.

In the earthly vernacular “I nailed it today!” OK, but are you prepared for tomorrow?

Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

James 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Matthew 6:25

Do Not Be Anxious

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

A recent conversation with my accountability partner concerning the amount of bible reading I do ended with me saying “I cannot live without it.” Many others would disagree and I will not argue the point.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

At the time I answered my dear partner I did not think about the words used by Jesus to answer Satan. It would have been a better answer but my thoughts were not of how Jesus might have answered. I was answering out of my own concerns.

My thoughts of late have returned to my Vietnam tour of duty. When my life was at risk 24-7 for a year at the age of 19, what concerned me narrowed down to just one basic issue. “How do I make it through today?”

One lesson learned early was important. Fear makes you stupid. It is not anxiety because anxiety pales in comparison to real fear. Anxiety is a product of the mind derived from perceived loss. Fear deals directly with the reality of impending death. 

I do not fear death any longer. I know where I am going. When I was 19 I did not.

John 14:6 I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Now I live with Jesus. Life with Him does not start when we are gathered, it begins the moment we are born again.

I still get anxious but my concerns no longer deal with food, drink or clothing, but rather if my love matters.