What I don't want to be doing when He returns (Matthew 14:42)
"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Matthew 24:42
How do we take this to heart? I spoke maybe two weeks ago about the difficulty of living like the return of the Christ is imminent. But today I want to talk a bit about what we might be doing when the Lord comes.
Before I was married I tried to quietly hope the Lord wouldn't return before I had a chance to see what sex was like. I know, thats crude, but its true. Now that I have a child I actually sit and wonder about her growing up before the Lord returns. Part of me doesn't want to live like the Lord could return at any time because that seems like something only the wackos believe. The other part of me fears my not being able to see my child grow up. Or more frequently I think about this verse:
"And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!" - Verse 19 of the same chapter.
What if my wife is still nursing our infant? What sort of horrible thing will I have brought on my wife and child if I raise them during the tribulation? My eschatology here is vague which may be part of my fear, I tend to lead towards a-millennialism but these verses seem pretty clear it will be terrible for everyone.
The other thing I think about is what if, on the day the Christ returns, I'm in the middle of a good game of rugby? Or what if he returns just before the Broncos win the superbowl? Can I cope with that sort of thing? These things seriously bother me. How can I be awake? Do I want to be awake? Ideally I will be bored to tears and the Lord will return and it will be a sort of "saved by the bell" situation.
Am I alone in such musings?
How do we take this to heart? I spoke maybe two weeks ago about the difficulty of living like the return of the Christ is imminent. But today I want to talk a bit about what we might be doing when the Lord comes.
Before I was married I tried to quietly hope the Lord wouldn't return before I had a chance to see what sex was like. I know, thats crude, but its true. Now that I have a child I actually sit and wonder about her growing up before the Lord returns. Part of me doesn't want to live like the Lord could return at any time because that seems like something only the wackos believe. The other part of me fears my not being able to see my child grow up. Or more frequently I think about this verse:
"And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!" - Verse 19 of the same chapter.
What if my wife is still nursing our infant? What sort of horrible thing will I have brought on my wife and child if I raise them during the tribulation? My eschatology here is vague which may be part of my fear, I tend to lead towards a-millennialism but these verses seem pretty clear it will be terrible for everyone.
The other thing I think about is what if, on the day the Christ returns, I'm in the middle of a good game of rugby? Or what if he returns just before the Broncos win the superbowl? Can I cope with that sort of thing? These things seriously bother me. How can I be awake? Do I want to be awake? Ideally I will be bored to tears and the Lord will return and it will be a sort of "saved by the bell" situation.
Am I alone in such musings?
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I'm not sure I understand your 2 thess verse that way tho... i looked into it a bit this morning but want to look deeper.. i'll get back to you
Tljessup, there is nothing in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 about the Holy Spirit being taken away. Yes, something will be taken away, but we are not told what. It can't be the Holy Spirit, at least before Jesus returns, because in Jesus' bodily absence it is by the Holy Spirit that Jesus' promise in Matthew 28:20 is being fulfilled. So, again, nothing to fear, we will be with the Lord for ever.