The discussion of the last days has been and will continue to be a topic of much debate inside and outside the church. Inside the church, discussions will center on the timing of Christ’s return and whether Christians will be delivered (raptured) from the tribulation. Outside the church, “scoffers” will use the end times as fodder for jokes and mockingly ask, in essence, “If Jesus is really going to return, what’s taking so long?” This question, “What’s taking so long?” has no doubt occupied the minds of quite a few Christians. But our job is not to know the time. Our job is to live expectantly.

2 Peter 3:3-4
…Knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Whether Christ returns today, tomorrow, or long after we have been in heaven, we are to live as if his coming could happen today. Expectant living motivates us to keep a short list of unconfessed sin. Expectant living forces us to deal with strained relationships. Expectant living is not about creating an end times scrapbook with paper clippings of world events; it is about living with an urgency to invest our time, money, and gifts into resources and relationships that will matter for eternity. We may see it looking down from heaven or looking up from the earth, but one day the heavens will split, and Jesus Christ will return.

Father, help us live in expectation of Christ’s coming. Help us live every day looking up. In Jesus’ name. Amen.