Watchfulness

Dear readers around the world! Today our article is about watchfulness! This is an important lesson for all of us to understand. It was written by a speaking (pastor) brother of mine and a true friend! I hope you enjoy it! May God Bless your week! John


Have you ever been outside with your friends on a warm summer evening looking
up into the clear night sky waiting to see a “shooting star” go racing across the inky blackness as it appears for just a moment then vanishes from sight? If so, you might recall how after patiently watching someone will exclaim, “Look, there goes one!” Immediately all heads turn, hoping to get a glimpse of this unique nighttime phenomenon. But too late for some, the meteor, rocketing through space, enters the earth’s atmosphere and is quickly consumed in a blaze of intense heat and disappears
from view. Having done this on many occasions, I can now almost hear the disappointed response from someone in the group, “Oh, I missed it!” followed by the excited observer’s exclamation, “Wow, you should have seen it! It was awesome!”



What I have described above serves as one small example of the necessity of being “watchful.” In this case, the star gazers all had a desire to witness this nighttime spectacle, and they all believed it was possible to catch a glimpse of these dashing meteorites if they kept their eyes focused on the heavens and patiently waited for the fiery objects to appear. So the question remains: why did some miss the opportunityto observe this nighttime event?

I can tell you from experience that, in most cases, the chance to see this heavenly exhibition is lost when, after a few minutes of looking skyward and watching intently without success, the stiff-necked watcher becomes tired and weary and begins to lose interest. Or the sudden appearance of a firefly blinking its greenish light in the nearby thicket causes a distraction, and before long, good intentions of careful watching give way to other immediate interests close at hand.


Can you see the spiritual lesson in this example? We are taught in the Scriptures and we believe in our hearts that our Lord is coming again, but Jesus doesn’t come in the first watch or the second, so we become tired of watching, and weary with waiting, and before long, our eyes and hearts are feeding on earthly things. And like the intriguing glow of the firefly, which calls us to follow it into the shadowy night for a closer look, the world, filled with distraction and commotion, plays its tempting songs that can easily lull us into a state of careless slumber. The result of this diversion will not deprive the would-be watchers of a meteoric glimpse but may very well rob them of their greatest blessing, eternal life in heaven.


It was for this very reason Jesus warned His disciples, Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:35-37)

Dear bride of Christ, listen carefully and you will hear the midnight cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh!” And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans13:11-14)

Cal Niemela

Tapiola, Michigan