You know that feeling when your phone buzzes and it is a message that says "I am five minutes away," but you are still in your pyjamas, the place is a mess, and you thought you had more time? That quiet panic sets in so you start rushing, trying to look like you had it together all along. Now imagine that same feeling but a thousand times deeper not for a guest coming over, rather for a King who is returning again in His full glory and majesty.
Most of us have heard about the second coming of Jesus at some point. Probably it may have been preached as a sermon in a church service, a scripture you scrolled past or a conversation that made you feel slightly uncomfortable and then moved on from. Now, here is the thing, it is not meant to make us fearful but it is meant to make us awake.
Jesus said something that should stop us in our tracks. In Matthew 24:44, He told His disciples, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." He did not say, figure out the exact date. He did not say, live in anxiety about it. He said be ready and readiness is not a state of panic, it is a state of living.
For a lot of young adults right now, life feels like it is running at full speed in the wrong direction. You are chasing a career that does not feel connected to anything meaningful. You are navigating relationships that have left you feeling emptier than when you started. Some days, God feels like a concept rather than a presence and the idea of His return feels so far removed from the bus you need to catch and the rent you need to pay that it barely registers.
But what if being prepared for His coming is less about watching the skies and more about the condition of your heart today?
Readiness Is More Than A Checklist
Think about someone who genuinely believes they are going to see someone they love after a long time apart. They do not just wait passively, they prepare. They get things in order, they reconnect with what matters and they mend what they let drift. That is the picture Jesus was painting when He spoke about readiness, not fear. Preparation that comes from love of His second coming.
Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 through 17, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." That passage is not written to terrify. It is written so that a generation who has seen too much heartbreak, too much disappointment, and too much uncertainty would know that there is a moment coming when everything broken gets made whole.
Being prepared does not mean you need to have everything figured out. It means you are moving toward God rather than away from Him. It means when life gets hard, your first instinct is to draw closer, not to disappear.
And here is something that might surprise you. God is not in a rush to leave you behind. Second Peter 3:9 says that He is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." His patience is not passive. It is intentional. Every single day you are still here is a day He is still reaching toward you. The second coming is not a deadline He is using to scare you into faith. It is a promise He is keeping because He loves you enough to come back for you.
So what does readiness actually look like on a Tuesday morning when your alarm goes off and the weight of the world is already sitting on your chest? It looks like choosing to talk to God even when the conversation feels one-sided. It looks like taking one step today toward the person He is calling you to be. It looks like deciding that the life you are living right now is worth living intentionally because the One who is returning is also the One who gave it to you.
Something To Think About
✔ If Jesus returned today, would the life you are living right now reflect the person He has been shaping you to become?
✔ What is one area of your life where you have been delaying a decision that you know, in your heart, needs to be made?
✔ Does the idea of His second coming bring you peace or unease, and what does your honest answer tell you about where you are with God right now?
Prayer
Lord, I do not always know what readiness looks like in my own life, but I want to be found faithful when You return. Search my heart and show me where I have been drifting. Help me to stop treating my relationship with You like something I will get serious about later. I want to live today like someone who knows You are coming back, not in fear, but in hope. Come quickly Lord, Amen.
Your Challenge This Week
This week, set aside 15 minutes to sit quietly with God and ask Him one honest question: "What do You want me to do with the time I have right now?" Write down whatever comes to mind, and take one small step toward it before the week is out.
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