Prepared for Christ's Return: The Pursuit of True Life

Vigilance and the Search for True Life

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to humanity, went away from humanity, and will come again to humanity. Yet He was here when He came, He didn't depart when He went away, and He will come to those to whom He said, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). According to the "form of a servant" which He took for our sake, He was born at a specific time, was crucified, and rose again. Now "He dies no more, death no longer has dominion over Him" (Romans 6:9).

But according to His divinity, in which He was equal to the Father, He was already in this world, and "the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him" (John 1:10). You have just heard the Gospel and the warning it gives us. It puts us on guard and wants us to be unencumbered and prepared to await the end. After these final things, which are to be feared in this world, the rest that has no end will follow. Blessed are those who will share in it. Then they will be secure, who are not secure now; and then those will fear, who refuse to fear now.

It is for this expectation and this hope that we have been made Christians. Isn't our hope not of this world? Let us then not love the world. We have been called away from love of this world so that we might hope for and love another world. In this world, we should abstain from all unlawful desires—that is, to have "our loins girded." We should be fervent and shine in good works—that is, to have "our lights burning."

For the Lord Himself said to His disciples in another part of the Gospel, "No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a lampstand, that it may give light to all who are in the house" (Matthew 5:15). To show what He was talking about, He added, "Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

2. Therefore, He wants "our loins to be girded and our lights burning" (Luke 12:35). What does it mean to have "our loins girded" ? It means "Depart from evil" (Psalm 34:14). What does it mean to "burn" ? What does it mean to have "our lights burning" ? It means "Do good" (Psalm 34:14).

And what about what He said afterwards, "And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding" (Luke 12:36)? This corresponds to what follows in the Psalm: "Seek peace and pursue it" (Psalm 34:14).

These three things—abstaining from evil, doing good, and the hope of eternal reward—are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, where it is written that Paul taught about "self-control, righteousness, and the judgment to come" (Acts 24:25). Self-control relates to "let your loins be girded." Righteousness relates to "and your lamps burning." The judgment to come relates to waiting for the Lord.

So then, "depart from evil" —this is self-control, these are the loins girded. "Do good" —this is righteousness, these are the "lights burning." "Seek peace and pursue it" —this is the waiting for the world to come. Therefore, "be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding."

3. Having these precepts and promises, why do we seek "good days" on earth, where we cannot find them? For I know you seek them when you're sick or experiencing any of the many troubles in this world. When life approaches its end, the elderly person is full of complaints and has no joys.

Amid all the tribulations by which humanity is worn down, people seek nothing but "good days" and wish for a long life, which they cannot have here. Even a long human life is so narrow compared to all the ages of time—it's like a single drop in the entire ocean. What, then, is human life, even what we call a long one?

They call it a long life, though even in this world it's brief. As I've said, even into old age, complaints abound. This life is short at best and of brief duration. Yet how eagerly people pursue it! With what diligence, what effort, what carefulness, what watchfulness, and what labor do people try to live here for a long time and to grow old!

Yet what is this "living long" but running toward the end? You had yesterday, and you wish to have tomorrow as well. But when this day and tomorrow have passed, you no longer have them. So you wish for the day to break, so that what you don't want to arrive may draw near to you. You celebrate annual festivals with your friends, and there you hear your well-wishers say, "May you live many years," and you wish their words to come true. What? Do you wish for years upon years to come, but not for these years to end? Your wishes contradict each other: you want to walk onward but don't want to reach the destination.

4. If, as I've said, people strive with such great care to die a little later, with what diligence should they strive never to die at all? Yet no one thinks about this. Day after day, people seek "good days" in this world where they cannot be found. No one wishes to live in such a way as to arrive where good days actually can be found.

Therefore, Scripture reminds us with this question: "Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?" (Psalm 34:12). Scripture asks this question knowing well what answer would be given, aware that all people seek "life and good days." In keeping with this universal desire, it asks, as if the answer would come from everyone's heart: "Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?"

Just as at this very moment while I'm speaking to you, when you heard me say, "Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?" you all answered in your hearts, "I do." I too, who am speaking with you, desire life and good days; what you seek, I also seek.

5. It's as if we all needed gold, and I saw you searching for it in a field that belongs to you, a place under your control. I might say to you, "What are you searching for?" and you would answer, "Gold." And I might say, "You're searching for gold, and I'm searching for gold too. What you're searching for, I'm also searching for. But you're not searching where we can find it. Listen to me, then, about where we can find it. I'm not taking anything away from you; I'm showing you the right location." Let's all follow Him who knows where what we're seeking can be found.

So now, since you desire "life and good days," we can't say to you, "Don't desire life and good days." Instead, we say, "Don't seek life and good days here in this world, where good days cannot exist." Isn't this life itself like death? These days hurry past and are gone: today has pushed out yesterday, and tomorrow rises only to push out today. These days themselves have no permanence; why would you want to remain with them?

Your desire for "life and good days"—I don't want to suppress it. In fact, I want to strengthen it even more. By all means, seek life and seek good days, but seek them where they can be found.

6. Would you like to hear with me the counsel of Him who knows where "good days" and "life" are found? Don't hear it from me, but together with me. One says to us, "Come, you children, listen to me" (Psalm 34:11). Let us run together, stand together, prick up our ears, and with our hearts understand the Father who has said, "Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD" (Psalm 34:11). And then He explains what He would teach us and how the fear of the LORD is useful: "Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?" (Psalm 34:12).

We all answer, "We desire this." Let's listen, then, to what follows: "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit" (Psalm 34:13). Now say, "I want this." Just now when I said, "Who is the man who desires life and loves to see good days?" we all answered, "I do." So come now, let someone answer "I do" to this: "Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit." Now say, "I do."

So you want "good days" and "life," but are you not willing to "keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit" ? Quick to seek the reward, slow to do the work! To whom is a reward given if they don't work? I'm certain that in your own household, you wouldn't pay someone who doesn't work. And why not? Because you owe nothing to the person who doesn't work.

God has a reward to offer. What reward? "Life and good days," which life we all desire and days we all strive to reach. He will give us His promised reward. What reward? "Life and good days." And what are "good days"? Life without end, rest without labor.

7. Great is the reward He has set before us. Given such a reward, let's see what He has commanded. We should be motivated by the reward of such a great promise and by love for the reward. Let's prepare our strength, our bodies, our arms to do His bidding.

Has He commanded us to carry heavy burdens, to dig something, or to construct some machine? No, He has not commanded anything so demanding. He has only told you to control that part of your body which you move most quickly. "Keep your tongue from evil" (Psalm 34:13). It takes effort to build a structure, but does it take effort to restrain your tongue? "Keep your tongue from evil." Speak no lie, no insults, no slander, no false witness, no blasphemy. "Keep your tongue from evil."

See how angry you get if someone speaks evil about you. Just as you are angry with another person when they speak evil of you, be angry with yourself when you speak evil of someone else. "Let your lips speak no deceit" (Psalm 34:13). What is in your heart within should be what you speak outwardly. Don't let your heart conceal one thing while your tongue utters another.

"Depart from evil and do good" (Psalm 34:14). How could I say, "Clothe the naked" to someone who up to now would strip the clothed? How can someone who oppresses their fellow citizens welcome the stranger? So, in proper order, first "depart from evil," and then "do good." First "gird up your loins," and then "light the lamp."

When you have done this, wait with confident hope for "life and good days." "Seek peace and pursue it" (Psalm 34:14). Then, with a clear conscience, you can say to the Lord, "I have done what You commanded; now give me what You promised."