The One Sure Thing

Text: Luke 21:25-38

While some scholars move the meaning of Jesus' words here from the near future of Jerusalem to a much later apocalyptic reference, it seems most likely to others that the time frame does not change. The difficulties then regard the meaning of the tossing seas and shaking heavenly bodies and the manner of the Son of Man's appearing. But on either interpretation the coming of a new order of things is assured by Jesus.

The words which follow are to be heeded by every generation of believers and seekers. "Be careful." The danger of hearts being weighed down either by careless living or by the pressing concerns of life in the world is ever with us. We all need the reminders that there is a redemption from this world, that our final fulfillment is not to be found here and now. We draw ultimate conclusions from less than ultimate things and events. It is all too often the case that the things which are most certainly temporal elicit the strongest emotional response, betraying the true orientation of our hearts and minds.

Be watching; be praying. We've heard it all before. Yet sometimes even our praying can be focused far too much on the very things by which we should not be weighed down. Yes, God cares about our family events, our business decisions, our purchases, our living quarters, our . . .. Before we know it our prayer list can show that we are looking up not for our redemption, but for our comfort or success in this life. And there is no sure thing to be found therein.

There may be a partial solution referenced in the closing portions of today's text. Coming to him daily, not to address him as much as to be addressed and taught by him, to be re-oriented in our thinking by the truth about the world and about ourselves and our true end. These can only be found in listening to him daily in the temple of the Holy Spirit. He is the only sure thing we can know in this life, with all the possibilities for joy and pain, beauty and tragedy, gain and loss that comprise it affords. Let us focus today and tomorrow on that one sure thing and allow our coming redemption in Christ to redirect our use of all the bane and blessing this world has to offer.