Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Before we leave Mark 13:34-37, let us consider one more thought drawn from these words of Jesus. Three times in this passage, He tells us to “watch” (verses 34, 36, 37). One aspect of being alert is prayer, as we considered last week. Prayer is an important work (and it does take effort even though it is also a blessed relief), but it also involves watching – looking for our Lord’s answers. In general, believers should be people of expectation. Life is often challenging, no doubt, but we can anticipate the hand of our loving Lord in our lives. Like David, we need encouragement and hope: “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). Anything that is good is given to us by our good God (James 1:17) and should be valued as an indication of His abiding affection and attention. We can also live in the certainty of the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) that Jesus will come back for us and meet with us in the clouds on our way to heaven (I Thessalonians 4:16-17), and we can anticipate that promised heavenly home (John 14:1-6). Let us not be glum, gloomy, and glowering (I know Christians who exhibit these negative characteristics). As God’s people, we can live in the greatest of expectations.