Week of 6/16-6/22: Living in Light - The King Returns to Live

Day Three: Jude 1:20-23 But you, dear friends, as you build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life. Have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

IMAGINE A MAN who owns a diamond mine.He is currently away from it, out of the country.He sends an invitation to a few close friends that he is closing the mine.It will no longer be excavated and have its diamonds extracted from it.The friends are invited to the mine to collect for themselves as many diamonds as they can secure.The amount of time they have to do this is until the mine owner returns to the mine and closes it.They don’t know how long he will be away but he tells them the time of return is coming.

What kind of urgency will those friends invited to collect diamonds from the mine work with? What other activities would they stop doing to focus more time on mining? Their urgency is fueled by the value of the diamonds and their knowledge that the mine owner is on his way and that when he arrives, time for collecting diamonds will be finished forever.

While the story is not a perfect parallel, it is meant to demonstrate the urgency with which believers should be joined to the mission of God in evangelizing the world.Believers have been invited to look for diamonds, the souls of men.These souls are more precious than any diamond, and the time for collecting them into the kingdom is limited because the mine owner, Christ, is returning.When He returns there will be no more evangelizing.The mine will be closed.Only those diamonds collected before His return will enter into the heavenly kingdom.The rest will experience everlasting torment in hell.

Oh friends, the time for collecting is now! Christ is coming and the day for collecting will soon be over.In the same way that many would be fueled with urgency to collect diamonds, which only have earthly value, believers should be fueled with an urgency over the diamonds, the souls, that have eternal value and worth.

PAUSE AND REFLECT

▷▷How can you get more involved in the mission of God?

▷▷What are some ways you can stay reminded that Christ is coming soon?

▷▷What are some ways you can reinforce the reality that souls are more precious than diamonds, leading you to greater concern for them?