Lent Gospel: Hour – Day 29 – Mark 13:24-37

Lent Gospel is a campaign for people to read through the whole of Mark’s Gospel during Lent, in 40 short readings. Helpful notes on each day's reading are available from www.usefulbible.com/lent-gospel; and you can download the whole series in PDF or Kindle format (it's free - just right-click on the links then select ‘save as...’ to download). Of course, it doesn’t have to be for Lent... why not begin now?

 

 

Last part: Rumour – Day 28 – Mark 13:1-23

Hour – Day 29 – Mark 13:24-37

Hour

·       Read: Mark 13:24-37

How differently people would behave if only they knew the hour before it happened! Burglars would be chased away before they broke in. Shares would be sold before the company became insolvent. Servants would wake up before the master returned. And people would repent and trust in God before they died.

But nobody knows the day or hour of any of these things. Nobody can say for certain whether they are hearing the Gospel for the very last time. Nobody is sure when they might die. And, in spite of all the false prophecies that have been made through the centuries, it is still true that nobody knows the day or hour when Jesus will return.

So the advice that Jesus gave is still necessary: we must be ready. In the overall scheme of things, it matters little whether our earthly possessions are lost through stupidity, neglect, fraud or even outright theft. But the fate of our eternal souls is a different matter entirely. They are only safe if they are in God’s hands.

So the sooner we turn from our sins and put our trust in God, the better – before the hour is too late.

Next part: Fervour – Day 30 – Mark 14:1-11

Index: Lent Gospel: Reading Mark's Gospel for Lent

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© 2012, Keith Simons.