Are We Living Our Lives For Christ?

How are we living our lives today? What will we be doing when Christ returns? We all live our lives doing normal daily things like eating, drinking and planning life events. The difference for believers is that they know there will be more, something much better, a permanent fulfillment when Christ returns. Believers will be longing for this ultimate fulfillment and not be satisfied by just the mere physical fulfillment than an earthly life offers. Believers know that there is much more to come.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37. Matthew chapter 24 tells of His return and how important it is that we remain watchful. The prophet Zachariah told of the Messiah sitting on the Mount of Olives when he came to establish His kingdom. When His disciples asked what would be the sign of his coming, Jesus replied, “watch out that no one deceives you.”  He warned them and us that there would be many false prophets with counterfeit signs of spiritual power and authority. We mustn’t look for special signs or other people. We must keep our focus on Christ and His Word.

The Old Testament mentions false prophets several times who claimed they received messages from God. But they offered 'health and wealth on earth' messages instead of the eternal, deeper, spiritual wealth that God promises us.

Popular leaders today tell us what we want to hear, that God wants us to be rich, do whatever makes us happy, that there is no sin or hell.  With the wickedness and loose morals of false teachings comes the devastating loss of true love for God and others. Sin cools our love for God and others by causing us to focus on ourselves. We can’t truly love if we think only of ourselves.

Jesus told us that false teachers would come and warns us not to listen to their dangerous messages. Many nice sounding messages and teachings don’t hold up when examined closely. By reading and knowing God’s Word, we can spot these errors or problems in false teachings.

Christ’s coming will be sudden, unexpected and unmistakable. It will be clear to everyone all at once. If we have to be told he is here, or over there, then it is not truly Jesus. The Messiah’s return will be obvious to everyone. Jesus told us of his return so we would be prepared at all times. He did not tell about his return to stimulate predictions of when he will return. He warned us to be ready, to obey him each day.

While we wait, Jesus told us to spend our time taking care of one another and doing his work inside the Church and outside it to build His kingdom. We are not to live irresponsibly, looking for self-serving pleasure or developing a false security based on precise times and events.