Bible Verse Reading for Personal Growth (Matthew 24:42-44)


Matthew 24:42-44

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

New International Version (NIV)


Reflection:
[a]In essence, these verses are Christ's opening salvo on how to be prepared and how to use our time and energy when the evidence of His return begins to appear.

Although we definitely know that we are living in the time of the end, we do not know exactly when Christ will return. So we have to live in readiness every day. The theme of this brief parable is expectation. Knowing the general signs of His coming, we live expecting the unexpected.

Jesus illustrates this by comparing His coming to that of a thief. We normally do not look for thieves. Understandably, thieves do not advertise their coming, but by taking precautions, we prepare against their coming. All of us lock our houses and hide our valuables in safe places. Some of us have installed security alarms and exterior lighting to discourage burglary.

In the same vein, Jesus urges His people to be vigilant, alert, wakeful, and constantly watchful because a thief's principal weapon is surprise. Even to those who are aware, His coming will occur with jarring suddenness—and more so to those who are distracted by ordinary occupations, "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage", and the likes. The teaching in this parable is that to live without vigilance is to invite disaster.[a]

Also, Jesus is warning us with great urgency. [b]A season is coming when He will be gone (John 16:4–5) and the world will be waiting for His return as King and the Judge (Hebrews 9:28). He has been clear that nobody will know when that moment is coming (Matthew 24:36). Nobody can know. The only way to be ready for His return is a constant state of preparedness (Matthew 24:43). Jesus' purpose for His people is to live each day as if He might appear at any moment.[b]



+++Sources/References+++
1) Verses ( New International Version - NIV):
https://www.biblegateway.com/
2) Reflection:
[a] John W. Ritenbaugh (The World, the Church, and Laodiceanism)
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/bible.show/sVerseID/24002/eVerseID/24002
[b] BibleRef
https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/24/Matthew-24-44.html
3) Images:
https://www.pexels.com/
https://pixabay.com/
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4) Voice: Text To Speech (TTS) App
5) Music: Just Stay - Aakash Gandhi (YouTube Audio Library)


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