This Present Time

This Present Time 

by David Brenneman 

‭"You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?" Luke 12:56.

‭"Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.” Luke 12:36-40.

"‭Peter said, “Lord, are You addressing this parable to us, or to everyone else as well?” And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." Luke 12:41-48.

It's an ever fascinating thing to me that the truth of Luke 12:56 that is the world around me. 

People either going about their lives with their heads in the sand or so high up looking at the sky that they refuse to believe that the words of Jesus could be happening in their lifetime.

My Dear Reader...I have absolute confidence that many of the words of Jesus, of the prophets of old, have happened and are happening in my lifetime.

The crux of the problem is that while people have come to Christ for salvation, they aren't taking in the Word of God daily. They aren't reading their Bible. They aren't interested in the things of God as they ought to be.  

Jesus said to be on the alert...well...are you or aren't you?

Jesus said that He will come at an hour in which you will not know...doesn't that cause you to want to be prepared, to be found as a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only?

Jesus said right in this very passage that we are to be considered blessed if we are obeying in being on the alert. 

Are you really going to toss out such a free blessing because of fear or selfish desires?

Our sin nature wants to live it up. 

Wants us to party like there's no tomorrow at times. Wants us to indulge in whatever is right in our own eyes.  

As has been covered recently, we come to Christ it isn't a golden ticket to run off n do life in a carefree way however we see fit. 

We come to Christ, He promised to create in us a new heart. He promised to begin a new work in us that He will complete.  

We read that after coming to Christ, the Spirit sets us in the body of Christ as He sees fit, to our benefit and to the benefit of others.

How in the world will you try to prepare to meet Jesus today in the time span of the twinkling of an eye? Hmm? How would you settle all that you're going through in life in that fraction of a second?  

Why would you be anything but who you are supposed to be in Christ?

Why hang on to things in life that you cannot take with you upon death? Why hold onto grudges, deny forgiveness, remain bitter, when none of that is fitting of a child of God?

Why hang onto so much stuff that you're using storage units that are only long forgotten memories that mean nothing to others in your life?

How much of your day is devoted to your relationship with Jesus?

In my reading today...just today mind you...I saw bits of a prophesy probably coming true today, in the battlefield outside of Jerusalem. If I weren't in my Bible I wouldn't have seen the connection. 

This isn't the first time and I have the promise of God that it won't be the last time...as long as I stay in His Word. 

Much of my life right now is spent much as yours is. Preparing for the present and as much of the future as is possible and permissible. But with an added element of burden. My preparations include those who will be left behind when Jesus returns. What can I help people with who won't come to Christ until after the Rapture of the Church?  

While this blog is trying to reach people in my world today...my personal preparations are also about the future that Jesus said is coming upon this world.  

"I don't want to think about that!" isn't an option for Believers...at least it never should be.  

The Berean Church diligently searched the Scriptures to see if what the Apostles said was true. 

So with all of you, I throw down the gauntlet...search the Scriptures yourself to see if what is being said is so.

My Savior is returning...just as He said He was going to.

Many Believers lead discouraged lives because they're still not letting go of things in their lives that the Spirit is telling them to release. Many times it's things as well as people. The Spirit changes the hearts of mankind. Not our personally persuasive arguments.  

Are you ready to stand before Jesus? Many people blink their eyes and in an instant are doing just that. They died and are in the presence of Jesus. Does what we have in our lives mean that much to us that we choose to not be ready for that moment?

I know of people who stood up for a drink...died before taking a step. 

I know people who were simply going to the bathroom, died from a ruptured blood vessel. 

I know people who went to sleep on a boat...only to die in a boat fire.

I know of people who thought it a great day to go use a motorcycle to go to work...opted not to wear the gear they should...and collided with a dear. They're clinging to life right now in an ICU.

All these and more...in a blink of an eye...their eternal destiny was shown. 

It was now over a decade ago I was hit with a serious conviction. 

How could I face my Savior Jesus Christ, the one who was beaten, whipped, abused, mocked, ridiculed, nailed to a cross, in my place...and not have read His love letter to me...His Holy Bible?

How blessed are any who open its pages! Psalms 122:1...How glad I was when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord.  

You can try to deal with life on your own understanding or you can open the owners manual of life and find out how to do it right. 

You can be frightened by the present or the future or read about how God has been orchestrating it all along for His glory.

Are you, at this present time, ready to step into eternity?  

Are you doing what the Spirit placed you in the body of Christ to be doing?   

Open my eyes Lord that I might see the wonders of my God...and truly live.

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.