Doing when He comes

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.  - Luke 12.43

Jesus did a lot of teaching in parables. He was the Master Storyteller.

Here He told a story about a man who went on a long journey. While he was gone he left his servants with certain responsibilities. Not every servant was faithful. It was easy to get lax when the master was gone. It is just human nature. When the cat is away the mice are indeed very likely to play.

Jesus said that the servant who remains faithfully at his work when the master returns is truly blessed. Not everyone given a task is going to stay at it. People get distracted, things get in the way, but the faithful man stays at the work.

We are like those servants who have been given tasks to do. . Our Master has left and He has left us work to do. We are to be living lives that honour Him and to share the glorious gospel.

I read a lot about when Jesus is coming back. There is all kind and speculation and headline interpreting and even fighting over His return. We have conferences and seminars and books and videos and websites all dedicated to trying to figure when He is due back.

We can get so busy trying to figure it out that we forget about the doing that Jesus talks about here.

I contend that we spend far too time talking and looking and fantasising and not enough time doing. Jesus, our Master, is coming back. That is a fact. We don’t have a clue when. That is a fact.

It is also a fact that Jesus expects us to be faithfully ‘doing’ when He comes again. In his letter to Titus Paul told the church on Crete what to be doing as we are looking for our Master to return.

‘For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.’

Can we call ourselves faithful stewards in the light of this passage?