“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.” — Mark 13:32-33
Predicting the Unpredictable
Over the past week, ESPN has released a few articles that make predictions about the upcoming NFL season. Which teams are in the Super Bowl hunt? Which newcomer will have the biggest impact? It’s certainly interesting to speculate, and prediction articles like these entertain fans as well as ramp up excitement for the NFL season ahead.
But when it really comes down to making predictions, it’s all just a bunch of guessing. Nobody truly knows what will happen during the season. There will always be a late-round draft pick that has a breakout season or an overlooked team that makes a deep postseason run. The Philadelphia Eagles, the 2017-18 Super Bowl champions, were exactly that team a year ago. The anticipation of what could happen makes prediction articles captivating for so many.
Jesus knew the fascination we would have with predictions, but He discredited all future predictions about His return to Earth. In Mark 13:32, He says simply “concerning that day or that hour, no one knows.” If anyone says they’ve figured out when Jesus is coming back, they’re deceiving themselves. Jesus tells us it is not our place to know or try to decipher the date of His return, yet it is our place to love Him and follow Him.
In the next verse, Jesus instructs His followers about how to live in the waiting period: “Be on guard, keep awake.” All people, including Christians, have a tendency to become apathetic and assume that one day will be like the next. We often waste time on activities that don’t matter much and neglect our relationship with God in order to accommodate our busy lives.
But that’s not how Jesus wants us to live. Instead, we can strive to lead lives that please Him.
We can’t predict when Jesus is coming back, but we know He is. If He came back today, what would you want Him to find you doing?
– Kevin Mercer
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