Keep Watch

Easter has come and gone. Christ has risen, appeared to his followers, and ascended to heaven. I love when he said, "I will be with you always, even unto the end of the age." What a great comfort. He will never leave us. He is with us always.

I was reading in the gospel of Mark where Jesus foretells of the judgment, and of his coming again on the clouds. He says to keep watch, because we don't know when it will happen. The disciples all began keeping watch right away.


Two thousand years later we are still keeping watch. Some people keep watch by climbing to a mountain top and looking expectantly at the sky, whether literally or figuratively. The world goes on below them; friends in need, people starving, unbelievers living in darkness. These mountaintop believers can't wait for Christ's return. They are always keeping watch.


But I think that "keeping watch" means more. I think it means we need to keep watch of our own hearts, our own faults, evil desires, and sinful natures. There is a reason why two thousand years have passed without Christ's return. We are still in training. I think we are supposed to recognize the foolishness, or at least the error, of those who have literally gone up to roofs or mountaintops throughout history, expecting Christ's return on a certain day, only to come back down, disappointed. I think these are reminders to keep on keeping watch; of our own hearts. and others' needs. Yes, eternity is endless, but we are already living this day, which is after all, part of eternity.


Keep watch. For "the Kingdom will not come with your careful observations...the Kingdom of God is within you."