In the last trimester of expecting our child, I remember having many aches and pains. Sometimes those pains took me to my doctor’s office, afraid something was wrong. My doctor examined me and would always send me way having explained that the pains I was feeling weren’t true contractions. They were merely practice contractions.
Matthew 24:8 reminded me of those times and the waiting. Jesus was teaching His disciples what to look for and not to lose heart or panic. He wanted them to stand strong in the knowledge given them. He was telling them to wait.
It seems to me that the “waiting” can be very difficult and especially whilst the world seems to be teetering on demise. The waiting is difficult, but in that difficulty, we should rest in every promise and account He was giving us.
Jesus said, “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” (Mark 13:32) If Jesus does not know, why do we wrongly search for it in prophecy or extrabiblical writings? If the Father felt it would benefit us to know, He would have shared that with us.
The task before us is to share Jesus with all we encounter. It is a command:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
Soli Deo Gloria
