No Regrets

Read: Matthew 24:1-36

At last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. Matthew 24:30

IN WORD

All the peoples of the earth—or all the tribes of the land—will mourn. Why? Many will grieve because they never recognized Him before He appeared. Even those who rejoice at His coming will be overwhelmed by how much more they could have devoted to Him and will mourn for those who missed their opportunity. In some ways, it will be a day of celebration, but it will also be a traumatic one. The appearance of the Son, crucified unjustly, will be an earth-altering crisis.

Some look forward to that day and others dread it, but another response is better than those. We need to imagine all the thoughts, motives, regrets, dreams, and goals that will be stirred up then and apply them to our lives today. Might we have regrets on that day? Then we need to take care to live without regret now, doing the things we would later regret not doing. Might His appearance rearrange our priorities? Then we should go ahead and rearrange them before He comes. Will any of our dreams prove pointless when we see Him? Then we need to discard those and cultivate dreams in keeping with His Kingdom. Whatever thoughts we can project for that time can be applied and compensated for now. We don’t have to be traumatized by His coming.

That’s what it means to live in view of that day. Paul, Peter, John, and others lived with the end in sight, and we should too, no matter how far off in the future it happens to be. Whether He returns in our lifetime or not, we know we will encounter Him personally in a matter of mere decades. The fellowship with His Spirit within us will transform into a face-to-face meeting. And we want to have no regrets when it does.

IN DEED

No one should go through life randomly or reactively. We live in the now, but we prepare for the future He has laid out before us. We’re intentional and proactive, focused on the purposes He has declared. We can therefore live with clarity. And peace. And a heart that welcomes His coming.

ADDITIONAL READING: 1 Corinthians 13:12

The primitive church thought more about the second coming of Jesus Christ than about death or about heaven.

ALEXANDER MACLAREN