The Commands of Christ, Part Thirty-Two

As a foster parent, my home is subject to a monthly inspection to ensure the welfare of any foster children living with us. The social workers aren’t looking for something spotless. They mostly just want to make sure that the child has a bed, a door that closes, the option of clean clothes (my wife and I focus on teens and believe all teens should be doing their own laundry), access to clean water to drink and food to eat. The foster care system, at least in Alabama, does not require that we provide a foster child with a glamorous life, just a basic quality of it. The embellishments we do are our choice.

Typically, I get a day or two notice before a social worker is stopping by the house. This is intended as a courtesy to make sure they don’t interrupt a family activity or a force us to change plans. Let me be clear: they don’t expect my home to be spotless when they arrive. Thankfully, they don’t even really expect the foster child’s room to be spotless (which is a huge relief). Still, on the day I know they’re coming, I practice active waiting. Active waiting is walking through my house and checking to make sure that things I feel should be done before the inspection are done. I’ll ask my kids to clean their rooms. I’ll make sure there aren’t dirty dishes in the sink. I’ll let the dogs out so they can chase each other and get some of the energy out (though I’m grateful our current worker is not scared of dogs because the dogs love her and insist on her attention).

When I’m sitting in the waiting area of my primary care doctor’s waiting room, I’m passively waiting. There’s not anything that I need to be doing there. It’s a little too late to change my diet. It’s a little too late to get in some last minute exercise. I’m just waiting on them to call my name so my doctor can either give me a pat on the back for keeping my blood sugar down or fuss at me for having one too many pieces of my favorite candy. I might distract myself with a game on my phone (I have to get better at chess so I can finally beat my kid!) or browsing a marketplace for fun things to look at that I’ll never buy. I’m just letting time go by until it’s my turn.

I wanted to paint the picture of the difference between active waiting and passive waiting before I asked you this question: Are you actively waiting for Christ to come back or are you passively waiting? If you feel like the answer should be actively waiting, you’re right. Here’s what Jesus says in Matthew 24:42 (NASB20)

Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

That’s a pretty straightforward instruction: “be on alert.” Like I tell my kids, you can’t be paying attention if your eyes are on your phone. For them, the phone is their great distraction. I’m not innocent of being distracted by the pocket computer that makes phone calls, mind you, but I’m far more likely to be distracted by the list of things that I think need to get done instead of focusing on the list of things God has told me to do. To better understand why we need to be on alert, let’s look at verses 43-44.

But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

The bulk of verses prior to this passage focus on the conditions of the world before the second coming. I think every generation has had reasons to think theirs was the one where Christ would come back. Christ states clearly, however, that He will be coming when we do not think He will. He tells is in Matthew 24:36 that only the Father alone knows when it will happen.

It’s easy to identify what active waiting looks like when a social worker is coming to my house. What does it look like when it comes to waiting for Christ? Verses 45-51 tell us the story of two servants. One is described as faithful and sensible, and has the house in order so when the master arrives, meals can be prepared and everything done at the proper time; there’s no catching up to do. The other is described as evil and instead of preparing his master’s house he beats fellow servants, eats his master’s food, and gets drunk with his drunkard pals. The evil servant doesn’t get off with just a scolding when the master finally returns. He is “assigned a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 51).

What about God’s house do we keep in order? What is the work we’re supposed to be doing while we wait for Christ’s return? In John 14:15 (NASB20) Jesus says:

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

I believe that there are tasks that all Christians are responsible for doing: loving God, loving our neighbor, loving each other, going out of our way to help those who need it, you know, all the stuff we see our Savior do throughout the New Testament. If you are not known for your love and the way you love others, you are not projecting the image of Christ and you are not keeping His commands.

I also believe that we are each given talents and fruits that are meant to be used for the Kingdom of God. These are unique to us and it takes time and prayer to understand what they are and how God wants you to use them. Maybe God equipped you with a mind for finance so you can help those who didn’t have good financial role models in your local body make better money decisions. Maybe God equipped you with the gift of gab and natural leadership so you could rally the men and/or women of your church in supporting one another. Maybe God gave you a love for writing so He could one day take control of your keyboard and have you write something for Him. Maybe God gave you the ability to give the absolute best hugs of all time and the heart of a comforter so that when you saw broken people, they’d feel God’s arms wrap around them when you did. If I were to write every example, this paragraph would never end. The point I am making is that for each of us who love and earnestly desire to follow God, there will be a thing that we are uniquely suited to do to help those within the Kingdom and to help bring others into the Kingdom. There will also be things He asks of us that we feel we have no business doing, but God will always equip you for what He calls you to do.

So, are you actively waiting on Christ to return? Active waiting means you are doing the things you know He wants you to be doing. You are keeping His commands. When Christ returns, those who are actively waiting will be alert and ready for his arrival.

Twice in the book of James he tells us that faith without works is dead (2:17 and 2:26) and in James 2:20 he tells us that faith without works is useless. To word that another way: faith without works is passively waiting. If you don’t want to be passively waiting on Christ, start by looking around at what God is doing in your local church body. If you don’t have a local church body, you need one. Then, pray for where God wants you to get involved. Remember what we learned previously: the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Join the workforce.