Today I read Matthew 24, which is all about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Coming of the Savior. Jesus gives the Apostles some signs to look out for and warns them to be ready because no man knows the mind of God, or when the Second Coming shall be. He warns them that there will be many false prophets who will attempt to deceive many and will even be successful.
As I was reading this chapter and wondering what I was going to talk about since really we have already covered this chapter a few weeks ago during our reading of the Pearl of Great Price because this is a chapter where Joseph Smith added so much to it that it was added to the Pearl of Great Price, I had a thought. The Savior spends a bit of time in this chapter warning the people that no one knows when the Savior is going to come again and obviously if we knew when He was coming, we would try and prepare, much like a homeowner whose house is broken into would have stayed awake if he had known at what hour his house was going to be broken into.
But I got to thinking about it, and really there is no point in even wondering when He will come again. If we are focused on that, we are focusing on the wrong things. People look around today, including myself, and see the way the weather is acting and say it is a sign of the times. I am guilty of it too. People see all the wars that are going on and declare the end is near. Any of a half dozen other signs from the scriptures are taking place and we rightly attribute them to the end of the world being near because that is what we have been taught in the scriptures. However, I think that those who are truly prepared for His Second Coming are those that do not worry when He will come again.
What I mean by that, is that we have talked many times over the past year on how the final judgment is not some checklist of what we have and have not done, but rather a thorough, no holds barred examination of who we have become. So, I think that the right person who is ready for the second coming will not worry about when the Savior comes again but will instead focus on living their life they way they should be. And while it is true that no one is perfect, the person who is truly converted to the Gospel will be ready for the Savior to come tomorrow just as much as he will be 50 years from now. Because you have to remember, it's about what is in our hearts that is important, it's who we are.
Now, this is not to say we should not be concerned with the Second Coming. I personally am very concerned about it, because I look around at how crass and crazy the world has gotten and can't imagine it getting even worse. The thought literally sickens me. So I wonder and I hope and pray for my family and my children having to grow up in this constant deluge of filth and garbage that is always on display for them. And so I pray the Second Coming will be sooner rather than later. But even in that I err and should be instead focused more on teaching my daughter the Gospel and on being the best Christian I can be and living my religion to its fullest.
It interesting to me how we can read the scriptures and as good as we think we are doing, we will still find ways to improve. But that stands to reason because we are none of us perfect. We all have room for improvement and we all need to make sure we are focused on living the Gospel in the best way we know how and focusing on those things that matter most. Focus on the weightier matters, true discipleship as my bishop calls it. When we forget ourselves and go to work living the Gospel, amazing things can happen. If you want to see just how much a force for good you can be in this world, just pray and ask God to use you as His instrument in this life and you will be amazed and what you can accomplish and the experiences you will have. Don't do it unless you are ready for it though.
It's hard not to be caught up in the things of this world sometimes. There is a lot of good in this world and a lot that is ok. There is even more that is bad, but most Christians are not entangled in that. It can be a challenge to pass up that which is good for that which is best. But that is part of why we are here, to learn and decide where our hearts lie. It is up to us to choose for ourselves where we want to be, and we make those choices a dozen times everyday. Just make sure you can live with the choices you are choosing. They will be with you for eternity. Until tomorrow.
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