What Time Is It?

1st Thessalonians 5 encourages us to be watchful:

2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

This weekend, we have been challenged to pay attention to the time, because we set our clocks up one hour on Saturday night or Sunday morning.   But, throughout the Bible, we are cautioned to be aware of the times in which we live, anticipating the coming of the Lord, and realizing that His plan is being carried out.

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
In Matthew 16, Jesus discussed being people of discernment:
2 He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red';

3 and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

Jesus was very direct in challenging His disciples, as well as the Pharisees and Saducees, to read the signs - He referred to the sign of Jonah - three days and nights in the belly of the fish.  He talked about using the fig tree as a guidepost.   As we look at current events, there is much to be learned.

It only happens one time a year - we "spring forward", and have to wait 6 months to get back that one hour of sleep that we lost.   And, there is a decision to make - when do you set those clocks ahead?   Actually, in our house, we set them ahead just after dinner on Saturday night and plan our evening accordingly, as if it were an hour later.   Many adjust those clocks just before bedtime, even though the time doesn't officially change until 2:00am - why?  I have no idea.   And it can be rather confusing - for one hour, all around the world, the time zone adjacent to you to the east is 2 hours ahead of you...wait, is that right?

Well, everything's settled now, except I really don't know what time it is in Phoenix or Indianapolis, unless I look it up - Arizona and Hawaii have decided not to do Daylight Savings Time, and Indiana didn't participate until 2006.

In addition to the clock we used daily to determine our schedule and routine, there are the signs of the times - no doubt, we are living in times of crisis in our nation, and there are those that say that it's getting late and we have to take intentional, dramatic action to turn around our moral and economic condition.   That's why elections matter, and you have a change to be a person of influence tomorrow as we go to the polls.

And, Jesus also laid out a last days timetable - and He, as well as Old Testament prophets, such as Daniel and Ezekiel, and John on the Isle of Patmos in Revelation - shows us where we are headed on this earth, cautioning us to be faithful in following Him, ready to meet Him, and sharing the gospel with others.   So, as we get our physical clocks right, we can be challenged to look at the big picture - where we are as a nation, and where we are on God's prophetic timetable, as well.