Keep watch - that's pretty good and a very wise thing to do.
If you were a honey bee, that is exactly what you would do. Unfortunately, we are not honey bees, and most of us don't keep watch at all. Well, most of us anyway. Keeping watch is really very important.
Native honey bees in Australia are known as "sugarbag' bees, and they produce really great honey in Eastern Australia, where we live.
Our honey bees produce not only honey but beeswax, and they are really important because they are pollinators of horticultural and seed crops.
Our honey bees are really hard workers, and they keep on producing heaps of honey. They constantly work hard both day and night, and they really keep a close eye on their queen. When she gives them the go-ahead, they swarm out of the nest to find a new place to go and a new queen.
They are constantly on the alert, not only in the production of honey but also in the nurseries for all the new bees produced by the queen.
They are a great example of being prepared and ready when they get the 'go-ahead" to swarm and get a new place to restart the hive.
In the Bible, Jesus told yet another story to his disciples - you can read about it in Mark 13:34-37
It's a story about a guy going away, leaving his servants in charge, and telling each one to keep doing their assigned tasks, and also telling the one at the door to keep watch! hmm interesting!
"Keep watch because you don't know when I'm coming back - I could come back at any time," says the owner. Jesus went on to say in the story that if the owner comes back suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. Then he said, "What I say to you, I say to everyone. 'WATCH' ".
Jesus has told us to keep watch, or keep looking and keep an eye out for his return, for when he comes, it will really come in a big way and really quickly. It will happen when we least expect it. Jesus is alive, and he will come back.
We really need to be ready; we need to stay focused on him, and we need to make him first in our lives.
It's so easy to get really involved in our everyday lives that we completely ignore what Jesus is actually saying in the Bible. He gives us lots to think about, especially how we really do need to make him the leader of our lives in everything we do.
Does that mean that we simply can't do anything at all except sit around and keep focused on him? Certainly not, but it does mean that he needs to come into our lives, change our outlook and focus, and then everything else needs to take second place to him.
It is certainly out of love and thanks for everything he has done for us. When you think of the price Jesus paid to gain eternity for each of us, and it was out of pure love, then all we have to do is say thank you so much and ask him to lead us and give him first place in our lives.
Jesus and what he did for us by paying for our sins on Calvary that day can and will shape us into people of wholeness and even holiness, and draw others to him by what we do or say
Day after day, he struggled to do what he needed to do. At thirteen years of age, I can see, looking at it now, just how much he actually struggled. You can imagine his absolute delight when the war was finally over to see his dad in his uniform walking from the train station. His dad was the only one there, but he was his dad.
The lad stayed focused while his dad was off fighting in the war; he kept a lookout for what was happening and watched for his dad to return. He was always ready to get on with life, but he was constantly on the lookout for his Dad to return.
Like our honey bees, constantly working so hard and getting on with the running of the hive BUT keeping an eye out for the queen bee and always on the ready to vacate the hive and restart a new one somewhere completely different.
How are you when it comes to the return of Jesus? That's a pretty good question and one that so many people laugh at or even ridicule. I know I have copped a bit of flak over the years when people find out I'm a Christian. Jesus himself copped heaps of ridicule and mocking, and of course, he paid the ultimate price and was brutally killed.
Yes, we so often have to pay the price of believing in Jesus and accepting him into our lives. BUT, of course, there is no going back as far as I am concerned. Jesus means everything to me, considering what he did all those years ago to pay the price for my sins, and do you know what? He is so ready to pay the price for your sins - all you have to do is accept what he did for you on Calvary when he gave his life and paid the price for your sins and mine.
He certainly didn't let death rule - He rose again because he is God, the three in one. God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God's amazing gift to us. We are never alone in the world; he is with us constantly, and all we have to do is accept him into our lives.
Ask him to lead your life and become first in every situation in which you find yourself.
If you would really like to come to Jesus today, praying a prayer like this one and coming from your heart can bring you to a real relationship with our Lord and God.
Dear God, I come to you today and ask you to lead my life. Take my will and make me yours. Please forgive the sins that I have committed in my life, and help me to be fully aware of any sins that keep happening. Please forgive me, cleanse me, and help me to make you the leader of my life. Amen.
God bless you and hope to see you next time.
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