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“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”  (Matthew 24:44, NIV)

It is typical of God that He first gives us the answers before giving us the test.

In these final chapters of Matthew’s Gospel (chapters 24-25), Jesus is emphatic in His teaching about the nature of the kingdom of heaven; and He is equally emphatic in His teaching about the final judgment of God, and what is required of you and me.  You see, Jesus wants everyone to pass; but everyone must pass with his or her own work.  No cheating.

The key to successfully facing any crisis — whether financial, emotional, physical, or spiritual — is readiness.  The time to get ready is now.  The adage is never more true: “You cannot give what you do not have.”

Are you ready?  – Luther

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“When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon and the stars you set in place — what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  (Psalm 8:3-4, NLT)

The span of the universe is not measured in miles, but in light-years.  The moon and the stars — witnesses to every generation of humanity since Adam — maintain their mysterious magnificence.

The psalmist marvels at the fact that the finite, flawed, foundering beings that we are, nevertheless occupy the thoughts of the Creator of the universe; and, somehow, warrant the condescension and the salvation of the Maker of the moon and the stars.

Do we, like the psalmist, marvel, too?   – Luther

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“Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”  (Jude 1:3, NIV)

Jude encourages all followers of Jesus — past, present, and future — to “contend for the faith.”

I do not believe it to be accidental that he chose the positive, as in contending for; instead of the negative, as in contending against.  The truth is this: We can go either way, but as it concerns the faith we hold dear let us be forward looking, optimistic, and proactive.

To “contend” means to strive for a particular goal or objective.  We contend for the faith when we make choices that are consistent with our profession, and embrace those choices with confidence and joy.  – Luther

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