KEEP ONE EYE ON THE CLOUDS -- Devotional for June 1, from "Good Seeds"

Seeing the things that are coming upon the earth, men’s hearts will fail them for fear, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. Then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things happen, look up, lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:26-28)

On our morning walk my wife and I pass by some children waiting for their school bus. Apparently their parents have neglected to teach them not to talk to strangers – but then again, we do live in a very friendly rural neighborhood! – so lately we’ve taken the liberty to greet the children as we walk by. Since spring has sprung I’ve been asking them a question they take great delight in answering: “How many days left of school?” One of the girls is particularly ready when she sees us coming, and shouts out, “Twenty-one!” – or whatever the count has come down to – before I’ve even had a chance to finish my question. Yes, when Steve and Karen “come to pass” the children “lift up their heads” and think about their emancipation from the drudgery of school, which surely “draweth nigh.” “Spring is bustin’ out all over,” and teachers know that from May 1st till the last day of school they’re doing well if they can just maintain order. Verdant lawns, vast fields of wildflowers, and virile young men and woman are all totally and helplessly infected by this annual disease known as “spring fever.” And there’s no known cure. You just have to wait it out. But signs of its coming are everywhere, whether it be the scent of nectar in the air, the shade from thickening foliage in the treetops, the delight of gradually warming and lengthening days, and, in our part of God’s world, the daytime sight of fawns and the nighttime sound of coyotes in the adjoining field. This is hardly a picture of what our passage is speaking of, for the time is coming for unbelievers when it will be anything but a delight when they see things coming upon the world, things long predicted but universally ignored, and their hearts will beat out of their chests with fear. But the same things that scare Christ-rejecters to death will bring Christ-followers to life, as we look up into the sky, past the clashing of heavenly bodies, and welcome the crashing in of another Heavenly Body onto the scene. It is our Lord Jesus, returning in like manner as He left: through the clouds. The tragic end of the natural order, and of civilization as we know it, will spell the magic beginning of a new world “where only righteousness dwells” (II Peter 2:13). Will you be among that happy throng whose heads will be lifted up, and whose hearts will leap with joy, as they see their blessed Savior, the Lord of all Creation, coming onto the scene? Then, at last, you will receive a new body, free from pain and age and disease. Surely our redemption, of both body and soul, “draweth nigh.” Yes, my friend, stay busy for the Lord down here, right now, but as you do, keep one eye on the clouds. Maybe you’ll be the first to spot Him, the One who is coming, for you and for me!