BE AWARE, BE WATCHFUL!S - "Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that Summer is near.......Be on guard! Be Alert!...If he comes suddenly do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you I say to everyone, "Watch"!
O - The one hope the world has is the return of Christ. But when he returns, the scriptures say he will return in power (Mt 24:30). And so now Mark follows up this glorious hope with a clear caution. Be Alert! Be Watchful! It is interesting that the fig tree is used yet again. But this time, we are told that in order to understand the times, we need to be "tender". Could this possibly mean, that we need to remain softened to the gospel and Jesus, and not, as He has told us so often throughout the gospels, "hard of heart". It is clear, we need to be on guard. So much of our Christian life is surreptitiously eroded by the world's influence, and so we are told that it is our responsibility to remain alert to the things of God, and be watchful.
A - It encourages me to not fall for the persuasions of the world. They are mightily persuasive, and often appealing; beauty, wealth, material goals, secularism, good times etc. While God wants me to be in the world, he also expects me to be apart of it. This äpartness" is so important, otherwise I would not be able to discern truth, and discern the times.
p _ Father, help me to stay alert and to discern your purposes and will, for me, so that I may continue to be your presence in this world, until your Son returns again in glory and power.
Amen.
Daily Reading for Mark Chapters 12&13
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