My second grandchild will be a girl. Her parents could hardly wait to find out! It was intended to be a surprise for Christmas and my son really did try to keep the secret. He made it a full twenty minutes of conversation before it slipped out! “Our little girl will be…” Only then he caught himself. It was a great surprise and we found out in the very best possible way! They’ve already chosen her name and they’re painting her room. We’re all praying for her safe delivery and making plans for her arrival. Knowing doesn’t lessen the anticipation. Instead, we talk freely about when she’ll be here. That’s the one thing we don’t know- her birthday!
“So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.
Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into.
You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.”
Matthew 24:42-46 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.24.42-46.NLT
Jesus used this, among other examples, of being watchful in anticipation of His return when God’s kingdom will be revealed. His disciples asked for signs and he gave them many in Matthew 24, but he cautioned them not to be deceived. Wars, famine, disease, persecution and rampant immortality will point to the fullness of time, but the end will not come until the Good News about the Kingdom is preached throughout the whole world so that all the nations will hear it. No one will need to report to the world the day of Christ’s return. We will see it for ourselves, but like labor pains, it will be sudden.
“For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes.”
Matthew 24:27 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.24.27.NLT
If only I’d known! So many times I’ve uttered these words as a sigh when it was in my power to give or do or provide something for someone but I was unaware of the need or as I’ve heard all my life, I was a day late and a dollar short. It’s a regrettably helpless feeling, but other times I’ve been in exactly the right place at the right time. I’ve been in possession of just what was needed and offered it joyfully. That feeling is beyond compare!
Being prepared is the mantra is the Scouts and was held up as the standard in my family as well. With cold weather comes ice and snow in many parts of the country, so we prepare as best we can for that eventuality. We salt roads. We buy generators. We stock up on fresh water and batteries for flashlights. We think ahead and we plan accordingly. When we know in advance that a storm is coming, we make ourselves ready, but sometimes the storm is sudden and catches us off guard. Weather services watch and listen for us and sound the alarm to take shelter or order evacuations. We simply can’t know everything, but we can know God who does!
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
Romans 8:28-29 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/rom.8.28-29.NIV
We are those God foreknew. God is omniscient. He has all knowledge. He knows everything that can be known in present tense. There is no past or future with eternal God. There is only the known. He sees and fully comprehends all time at once because He resides outside of time. We are finite, bound by both space and time. In our earthly existence, we have a beginning in the sense that we were created as a race starting with Adam and Eve, and we are each born into a specific place and time for an unspecified amount of time. We do not end with the death of our mortal bodies for our souls live on beyond this temporal existence and we will receive new bodies suited to eternity in one of two locations. We are completely free to choose for ourselves what we will believe.
“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.”
John 1:12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.1.12-13.NLT
“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:1 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.8.1.NLT
Eternal God foreknew all who would trust Him, even those yet born. I know my granddaughter’s name but God knows every second of her existence before her birth. He knows all who will trust Him for eternal life, and He works by His Spirit that we might become more like Jesus. We are created in His image and God the Potter will form us more and more into the image of His Son as we yield to His hand. He never stops pursuing us and He will never give up on us as long as we have breath and for as long as the earth endures.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.
With all wisdom and understanding, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/eph.1.3-12.NIV
Thank You, eternal God, that You have complete knowledge of my life. You know me better than I know myself. In You, I find the truest version of myself in Christ. As I choose to abide in You each day, I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live. May the life of Your Son, Jesus, be on display. As the family resemblance becomes more recognizable, may You and only You receive all honor, glory, and praise now and forevermore for You alone are worthy. In Jesus’s name, amen.
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