Just be & do your best!

Luke 17:26 - 37

26 "The time of the Son of Man will be just like the time of Noah-- 27 everyone carrying on as usual, having a good time right up to the day Noah boarded the ship. They suspected nothing until the flood hit and swept everything away. 28" It was the same in the time of Lot-- the people carrying on, having a good time, business as usual 29 right up to the day Lot walked out of Sodom and a firestorm swept down and burned everything to a crisp. 30 That's how it will be-- sudden, total-- when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "When the Day arrives and you're out working in the yard, don't run into the house to get anything. And if you're out in the field, don't go back and get your coat. 32 Remember what happened to Lot's wife! 33 If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms. 34" On that Day, two men will be in the same boat fishing-- one taken, the other left. 35 Two women will be working in the same kitchen-- one taken, the other left. " 37 Trying to take all this in, the disciples said," Master, where? " He told them," Watch for the circling of the vultures. They'll spot the corpse first. The action will begin around my dead body. "

Food for thought

Our reading speaks of the Second Coming of Jesus. Out of this difficult passage we can pick only a few things which are certain--and in truth they are all we need.

First of all, the coming of Christ is certain, but its time is quite unknown. Speculation is vain. People will come with false prophecies and false predictions; but we must not leave our ordinary work to follow them. The best way that Christ can find us is when we are faithfully, humbly and watchfully doing our daily duties. The best way to prepare for the Lord is to carry our ordinary duties extraordinarily well. Just be and do your best in everything.

Another lesson to note is that when that day comes the judgments of God will operate on a personal level, and of two people, who all their lives lived side by side, will be dealt with individually: "Two women will be working in the same kitchen -- one taken, the other left." There is a warning here. Intimacy with a good person does not necessarily guarantee our own salvation. Goodness and holiness is intransmissible because it is personal; we can neither borrow nor lend goodness! Living with a righteous or holy person is no guarantee for your own salvation. As St. Paul says (Phill. 2:12),

"What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure."

The judgment of God is an individual judgment. (2Co 5:10), "For we must all appear and be revealed as we are before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive [his pay] according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil [considering what his purpose and motive have been, and what he has achieved, been busy with, and given himself and his attention to accomplishing]."