PASTOR’S CORNER, Aaron Koehn, Trinity Faith Church, Liberal

“I say to you what I say to everyone: Watch for him!” — Mark 13:37

We live in a world where everybody seems to be preparing for something. We prepare for retirement, vacations, emergencies, careers, and the future. We have calendars full of appointments, reminders on our phones, and notifications telling us what needs our attention. But here’s a question we don’t seem to ask nearly enough: Are we prepared for the return of Jesus Christ?

In Mark 13:34–37, Jesus tells the story of a man leaving on a long journey. Before departing, he gives his servants responsibilities and instructs the gatekeeper to watch for his return. The message is simple but powerful. The master is coming back, his servants have work to do, and they don’t know when he will arrive.

Jesus wasn’t giving His disciples a puzzle to solve or a date to calculate. He was teaching them how to live while waiting for His return. Being ready isn’t about knowing WHEN Jesus is coming. It’s about being faithful to Him until He does.

Look around at the world we’re living in. Social media is filled with arguments, outrage, division, and distractions. People are consumed with politics, entertainment, money, personal success, and the next big thing. Even within the church, it’s possible to become so occupied with the activities of Christianity that we neglect our relationship with Christ.

We can know the worship songs, attend the services, quote Scripture, and still allow our spiritual lives to drift into complacency. We can become comfortable with things we once knew were wrong, postpone forgiveness, neglect prayer, and convince ourselves that we’ll get serious about our faith tomorrow.

But here’s the problem with tomorrow. None of us has been promised one.

When Jesus warns His followers not to be found sleeping, He’s talking about spiritual alertness. He’s warning against becoming careless, distracted, or indifferent to the things of God. The servants in His illustration weren’t instructed to stand around staring at the sky. They were given work to do. They were expected to remain faithful to their responsibilities until their master returned.

And church, that speaks directly to us today.

God has given us work to do. There are people who need to hear the Gospel, families that need restoration, neighbors who need compassion, people who need forgiveness, and a world that desperately needs to see the love of Jesus demonstrated through His people.

Watching for Jesus doesn’t mean withdrawing from the world. It means faithfully living for Him in the middle of it.

We don’t need another prediction about the end of the world. We don’t need another sensational headline convincing us that someone has figured out the date of Christ’s return. Jesus made it clear earlier in Mark 13:32 that no one knows the day or hour.

What we need is to examine our hearts and ask ourselves some serious questions. Am I walking with Jesus or simply going through the motions? Am I living out the faith I profess? Have I allowed the distractions of this world to become more important than my relationship with God? Am I doing the work He’s called me to do?

And perhaps the most important question of all: If Jesus returned today, would He find me faithfully following Him?

Readiness isn’t about living in fear. It’s about living with purpose, obedience, and expectation. It’s about keeping our hearts right with God, loving people, sharing the Gospel, and remaining faithful even when the world around us seems to be moving in the opposite direction.

Jesus didn’t tell us to be afraid of His return. He told us to be ready for it.

Don’t become so busy building a life in this world that you forget you’re preparing for eternity.

The Master is coming back. We don’t know when, but we do know what He’s called us to do until then.

So let me ask you one more time…

ARE YOU READY?