Malachi 3:19-20, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12, Luke 21:5-19
The Old Testament reading today is very short, precise and quite scary especially verse 19
For the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, And the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts.
MALACHI 3:19
Indeed, Malachi is just a messenger of God delivering a message of God to the people of Israel and in this message, there is hope in the following verse which says, “
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will shine out with healing in its rays”
Malachi 3:20
This part will be good for those who believe that they are neither arrogant nor evil. As children of God, we must be concerned about those who are on the wrong path and help them come to the right path. In the gospel the followers of Jesus Christ asked Him for time and signs and Jesus gave them signs to look out for. This gospel is about what to expect before the end finally comes, it is therefore very essential to look at the signs that is going to lead to the end and judgement.
Signs play a key role in our lives, and it is key in progression and retrogression. Businesses will need it to forecast and either change strategy or improve on what they are doing. There are signs to show us that we are not getting younger so in every aspect of human life signs are particularly important and we must always look out for them.
Body
- The signs should make us stay focused on the things of God.
There are a lot of things that we focus on which does not really glorify God and present Him as the ultimate in our Christian journey and these are the things, we spend most our time on.
“Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.
Luke 21:5-6
Jesus is telling us to make our bodies presentable to God because it is the temple of the Lord because physical things will not last no matter how good and adorned they are. He wants us to focus on the kingdom and the salvific message which will help bring people to everlasting life. So that they will be saved from eternal damnation.
- The Signs must move us to be more devoted to God no matter the situation.
We are all devoted to a lot of things because of our personal reasons but are we able to have the same devotion for the things of God? Are we able to spend enough time with God in our own private spaces? How many times do we recognize the presence of God at work in our dealings? Do we always believe that is through our own effort? How often do we talk about our faith to others? Beloved, Our answer to these questions will define our devotion to him.
- It should help us amend our ways.
Through the signs we must see the need of amending our lives and make it pleasing to God. We must put away acts of arrogance and evil before we are “burned up…” . Beloved it is important that we pray to God to help us move away from acts that does not bring glory to him and follow the good path that will lead to light.
- The signs must embolden us to proclaim the good news regardless of societal barriers.
The signs teach us that there will be persecutions etc. and we must continue to stand firm in the faith no matter the persecution that may come our way. The society will not be happy with us and unwilling to receive the message but we should not be discouraged, we should just remain steadfast in the faith. Beloved we should never deny our faith regardless of the situation.
- The signs must improve our understanding of the true gospel of Christ.
The true gospel has been handed to us and that is what we must preach and present to the people because the signs shows that there will be false prophets and false teachings. Beloved they are with us now and we must stay strong and defend the true word of God. We may be in the minority but in the eyes of God we are not because those who are for us are more than those who are against us.