I don’t understand.

While talking to the disciples about his departure from earth and his return in the future,  Jesus says, ” But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven nor the Son, only the Father” (Mark 13:32)

Jesus is admitting he doesn’t know when he’s coming back.

Jesus also tells us that we should always be ready for his return, “because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matt 24:44)

Always be ready.

He will come back when we don’t expect him.

So why are so many people spending so much time and energy trying to drill down Revelations into a list of events so they can predict the second coming of Jesus?  I don’t get it.  Jesus said only the Father needed to know and he said we wouldn’t be expecting him when it happens.  Are we just ignoring these scriptures?

It’s obvious to me God has not made it clear when Jesus is coming back on purpose and he’s telling us it’s not going to happen when we expect it to happen.

I get it that we’d like to know when the end of the world is coming.  There were people in the New Testament that stopped working because they thought Jesus was coming back in their lifetime.  That was over 2000 years ago and it hasn’t happened yet.  Here we are again – predicting that it will happen in our lifetime.

I’ve decided  I need to be ready every day for Jesus’ return but my focus needs to remain on loving God and loving people.  That’s my purpose for still being here.  I have a responsibility to share the love and grace of God with those who haven’t put their faith in him yet.  I won’t be doing that if I’m spending my time trying to predict the end of the world.

I’m starting to think that all of this ‘end of the world’ stuff is just another strategy of the Evil One.  He’ll do anything to distract us from loving God and loving others.

I’m just not going to let him do it in my life.

My eyes are on you, Father God.