One of the most hope-filled, yet slightly frustrating, promises to Christians is the return of Jesus. It’s hope-filled, since we look for the glorious appearing of Jesus. And slightly frustrating, because we speculate: when will it be, will I be ready, will my grandchildren have to live in this awful world? We often view Christ’s return as a solution for the problems of our world, albeit a solution mainly for us, not the ungodly.

Then come the prophetic prognosticators who feel like they’ve beaten the odds of predicting the return of Christ, only to be wrong again. How many times will we be embarrassed by well-intentioned people who claim to know the unknowable? “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mark 13:32, NKJV) So, we wipe the egg off our faces again and wait.

Here’s the problem. Jesus said in Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus told us to pray His Kingdom come to earth, yet we are busy trying to get to heaven. We are anxious to get out of this world. But Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:15, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” We were not born again to become couch potatoes or to spend the next 50 years waiting for death to deliver us from a world gone wild. We’re here to make a difference. Your life counts. So, don’t check out yet!

We Still Have Work To Do

The coming of the Lord for most of us will be our death, not the End Times. That may not be what you want to hear, but our job is not finished. Jesus said in the prophetic parable of Luke 19:13, “Occupy till I come.” He didn’t say, “Be preoccupied with my coming.” Our job is to fulfill the mandate God gave Adam in Genesis 1; to subdue and have dominion on the earth.

Psalm 115:16 says, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men.” That means we need to represent the interests of God in every sphere of life; not just wait for Jesus to return. Adam’s sin in the garden did not change God’s plan for man and that is still God’s plan today. Jesus came to restore what we lost in Adam. Now we can represent God by the power of the Holy Spirit. If you have breath, then you have a purpose.

When we say the word “ministry,” we think church. But when God says “ministry,” He thinks Kingdom. God is not limited by our view of church and life. We glibly divide the sacred and the secular. We devalue anything that happens outside of the church. We attend church to ignite our spiritual senses, then leave to tolerate a secular world. The problems of our world are not due so much to the presence of evil as to the absence of Christians. Evil has simply filled the voids that Christians have left vacant. A preoccupation with eternity should inspire, not impede our earthly purpose.

Your Best Days Are Still Ahead

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14, NKJV) What is your witness factor? How is God glorified through your life? You are gifted, talented, anointed, and skilled to do specific things. So, what you see as ordinary God can use in an extraordinary way. No matter which mountain, pillar, or sphere of life you find yourself in, use it to advance the Kingdom of God. Be it in your family, church, government, education, business, media, or sports and arts, from the simple to the complex, your best days are still ahead. Influence is the currency of God’s Kingdom. Ask God to better equip you for the job ahead, ‘cause we aren’t going anywhere until the work He put us here to do is done.