Our scripture this week is Matthew 24:36-44.
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
Matthew 24:38-39
Jesus uses a scripture His followers would be familiar with to illustrate His point, Genesis 7. He tells them that in the days of Noah people were caught unaware when the flood came because they were living without a relationship to God. He compares this to the promise of His return.
Our lives were given to us by our Creator for a purpose: to be connected to Him and to our brothers and sisters. When we ignore the responsibility that connection places on us, our lives are poorer for it. While God doesn’t promise we will know all things – such as when Jesus will return – He does promise that the loving relationship we share will make us ready.
Only by giving up our desire to be in control and submitting to God’s will can we be saved through our faith in Jesus. Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We must know and do His will in order that His kingdom may truly come to us.
Gracious God, we are often harried and hurried in our daily lives. Teach us Your will and help us to be faithful followers that we may be ready on that day when Your kingdom comes on earth. Amen.