POP QUIZ

If you haven’t been a student for many decades, the words “pop quiz” may cause you to hyperventilate. If so, I’m sorry. But not really. Now, take the bubble gum out of your mouth, sit up straight, and don’t cheat. Here we go.

A friend calls to tell you that she’s in the neighborhood and is going to drop by in about 10 minutes, and she’s going to take you to the world’s best combination amusement park and shopping mall and 10-star restaurant, and you need to be dressed and ready to leave. Do you --

A. Panic-stricken, race around the house at warp speed picking up flotsam, hurling things in closets and under rugs, wiping up spills, hoping she won’t notice and tell you what a slob you are, and you can’t find anything to wear, and the whole time you’re hoping she’ll hit a pothole and be indefinitely delayed;

OR

B. Do you lounge in your cushy recliner with a glass of raspberry tea, relaxed and confident in your organized home, wearing just the right all-purpose wrinkle-free stain-free outfit and say, “come on over! Can’t wait to see you!”

Clearly, analogies go just so far. And I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. Nowadays, just as in the olden days, people ask, “where is the promise of His coming?” (2 Peter 3:4). Unbelievers clearly think that Christ’s return for His Church is a bunch of “hooie.” But sadly, even many believers have difficulty realizing that Christ really meant it when He said He was coming back to take us with Him (John 14:3).  He’s certainly not going to shoot off a text to us, saying, “hey, heads-up, I’ll be down there in 10 minutes.” But if He DID, would you --

A. Be embarrassed at His coming, scurrying around, trying to clean up spiritual messes and flotsam (1 John 2:28-29)?

OR

B. Be relaxed, look up with great expectation, and say, “come, Lord Jesus," because you're oh-so ready for Him. You don’t have to run around wiping up spiritual spills, trying to hide spiritual unconfessed flotsam, thinking He won’t notice, because you, in obedience, have been continually abiding in Him.

My precious Lord Jesus, I don’t know when You’re coming, but You have graciously already told me the “signs” (Matthew 24). I believe Your promise that You are preparing a place for me. And it will be so much better than any park/mall/restaurant combo, because You will raise me to be imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:50-54), and so I will always be with You (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). By Your words, I am encouraged and comforted.