At the outset of Mark 13 we have Jesus making one of those claims that is hard to figure out. They are gathered in the temple and the disciples are marveling at the size of the stone work. Jesus lets them know the building will be destroyed. Their response, confusion and question. Later in the day when they are at a distance from the temple, four of the disciples question Jesus about the timeline of the destruction. The answer given is Mark 13.
Essentially what Jesus tells the disciples and tells us is the exact timing and date do not really matter. What matters is, that we are ready when that day comes. Great. How in does one know if they are ready for such events? Over the past 50 years or more the popular way to tell if you were ready is to fulfill the checklist of activities. First, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Then to move on to questions of discipline. Are you praying daily, are your reading scriptures daily, are your doing good works etc, the list can go on and on. The problem is, the list will always come up short.
Don't get me wrong, Faith in Jesus is the starting point, and prayer, study of scriptures, along with good works are important parts of our faith journey. They are false gods however if we only do them to check them off the list. The point of all these important moments and activities is not to pad a Christian resume. The point is they all enhance, inform and develop our relationship with God. Checklists are never the point, rather relationship is always the point.
There will come a time when the world as we know it will end. There are some clues in the scriptures about this time, yet we do not know the date and time. We do know we are told to be ready. How is it we are ready? By being deeply rooted in a love relationship, and living our loves are an outpouring of that relationship.
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