My Lord Delayeth His Coming
Matthew 24:48-51: But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:6-12: And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
In our worship readings, Ellen White has been talking a lot about being ready for Jesus' coming, and not sleeping on duty. For a large part of my life, I thought myself to be watching and ready. But the writings of Mrs. White have caused me to look deeper at my actions, and what's going on under the surface. At closer examination, I find that my flesh still takes control at various times, which is not in harmony with Christ. Worst of all, I found myself, sleeping.
I used to think like this: "I believe in the soon coming of Jesus, do I not? I don't go round saying that Jesus won't come for another millennium. I'm not sleeping." But really, I was paying more attention to worldly things, while not preparing myself for the nearing end times. I would say, "well, there aren't a heck load of disasters, and persecution seems pretty relaxed. I don't think Jesus will come for a few more years yet." But the Bible councils us to be watchful all the time:
Matthew 25:13: Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
And to die to self everyday:
1 Corinthians 15:31: I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Besides this, the disasters are indeed increasing. These disasters, especially the many earthquakes happening one after the other, have helped to wake me up also. And persecution has been around all the time, and is increasing; it's just that we are isolated from it, and the media don't like to talk about it.
On my examination, I found that I was acting out the Laodicean spirit.
Revelation 3:17: Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I now see myself in that description. I thought I was clothed and covered, but really I was walking down the street naked... and in a day when I looked not for Him, my Lord would come and...
Matthew 22:12: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
This is the dangerous thing about Laodicea, you don't know what's really going on! But thank God He's given me insight enough to see this. My prayer is, that I won't forget the lessons I've learned, and that I will persevere in refining my character until I am like Christ.
Philippians 3:14: I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
1 John 3:2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
