Vigilance

Today's readings:
Psalms 20, 21, Deuteronomy 34:1-12, Romans 10:14-21, Matthew 24:32-51

Are we vigilant about our spiritual lives? What would such vigilance look like? Jesus offers various examples of vigilant (and non-vigilant) people in today’s reading from Matthew. He is speaking of his return, but the lesson can be applied to other important events that will occur at an unknown time, including our own deaths.

Two workers in a field, but only one taken at the end. Two women grinding grain, but one left behind. A homeowner unprotected against thieves in the night. Two slaves, but only one is faithful to his master. Jesus gives no details about what separates the field workers and women who are taken from those who are not. The homeowner has no way of knowing which night to stay awake to catch the thief. These examples tell us why we need to be vigilant, but not how.

Then there are the slaves. In this longer example, we are not surprised to learn the good slave is performing his job admirably while awaiting his master’s return, and the bad one is wasting time and money that are not even his. In a nutshell, vigilance is doing what we’re supposed to be doing, every day. None of the vigilant people are making extraordinary “holy” efforts. None of them are busy trying to figure out when the big event is most likely to occur. None of them are in a worship service while others are not. They are working, grinding, living.

Perhaps this is how we are to exercise vigilance: discern how God wants us to live, and make it our daily practice to do so. Waiting for the “right day” to stop gossiping or to start caring for the poor is a dangerous gamble: like the bad slave, we don’t when our time might be up. We can get bogged down in the idea God’s demands are too great for us to tackle in our current state, so we don’t even try. Is it possible a preoccupation with extraordinary efforts could even distract us from true vigilance? Instead of being overwhelmed, let’s find comfort in Jesus's use of common laborers, not prophets or priests, as his examples of the vigilant. We don’t need to be scholars, seers, or sages to be vigilant. We just need to be the people God created us to be.

Comfort: God has given us lives that prepare us for His presence.

Challenge: At the end of the day, make notes of when you were and were not spiritually vigilant.

Prayer: Gracious and Merciful God, thank you for your presence in my daily activities.

Evening readings:
Psalms 110, 116, 117