“Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time is.” (Mark 13:33) That passage is talking about the second return of Christ. Many of us have grown up being told year after year that it could be any day now. In that case, since nothing has happened so far, we have grown lethargic instead of staying alert.

For others, Christ’s return isn’t on the radar of their brain at all and so they go on living like there is no tomorrow. That mentality says; “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Both groups will eventually face a day when Jesus actually does return again because what God promises will come to pass.

How do we really stay alert? It isn’t a matter of stopping life and staring up into the sky. That’s what the disciples did when Jesus ascended into heaven but the angels told them: “‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.'” (Acts 1:11)

Being alert as we wait means being about God’s kingdom business. It means fulfilling the commands he left us with, particularly to make disciples of all nations and to bring in the harvest of souls waiting to hear the good news.

We can spend a day, a week or a month and not give one thought to the actual second return of Christ and still be “on the alert.” If we have a zeal and passion for God’s purposes and actively pursue them we are like a soldier standing at full attention before a commanding officer.

Remember…he IS coming. Time is truly short. Keep on the alert!