October 5, 2023

Scripture: Luke 17:33 - " Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it."

What it means

This verse of scripture comes in response to a question from the Pharisees about when the Kingdom of God would come.  Jesus' response was basically "No one knows.  However, when the day comes...you better be ready."  And, if you're not...then don't dare risk trying to run back in the house to grab something...because it isn't worth it.  Let's skip ahead to verses 34-35 - "I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."  Sufficed to say, we want to be the one taken and not left behind.

What it means to me

We tend to spend a lot of time and energy trying to figure out when Jesus is coming back.  There are a lot of theories out there, and some of them make more sense than others, but Jesus hits the nail on the head when He tells us "That's not for you to know, or to worry about - just be ready when it comes."  Verse 33 is speaking about two different lives.  We worry about trying to preserve our earthly lives, but we never need to do so at the expense of losing our eternal life in the future.  The two are very different, and we need to understand clearly that eternal life, which never ends, should always be weighted more heavily than our transient life here on earth, which will most assuredly come to an end at some point.

Love you guys, see you in church on Sunday.

In Christ,

Brian