To every man his work

Mark 13:34

For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

Jesus here gives us several warnings about the end times in this great chapter of Mark’s Gospel. He speaks of the events that will take place. To explain these events is not the intent of this devotion, and therefore I will leave that subject untouched, and allow those with greater knowledge in this area to elucidate this great passage. Nonetheless, there is one commandment to us in relation to the end times that we must all heed. We must all listen! Because the Lord said, “Watch and pray!” “Take ye heed!” “Ye know not when the time is!” No, we do not! We can guess and hypothesize and theorize and conjecture, but no one knows. We can seek to unfold the day of the Lord from our study of Scripture, but there is much we do not know. But we do know that it will happen at a predetermined, albeit to us undetermined, time; therefore we must watch! Watch and pray! It could be tomorrow! It could be in one hundred, or five hundred, or a thousand years from now. Or, my friends, it could be tomorrow!

Now, as we consider the imminence of the return of Christ, there are some things that we ought to be doing in conjunction with watching and praying. Watching and praying does not mean waiting without activity. It does not mean mediocre indolence or “getting through” until the Lord returns. It means we are actively involved in the Lord’s will and work. If you were preparing for a guest to visit your home, would you do anything, or do nothing? Surely, you would do something! You would make things presentable; you would make all things prepared for the arrival of the expected guest. And so is it with us as we wait for the return of our Lord Jesus. And this verse lays these things out for us. The man of the house takes a far journey. Christ is gone to Heaven. He also gave authority to His servants. God has a job and responsibilities for each of us, that we may occupy till He comes. We are not doing nothing, but doing many things in preparation for His coming. Because He has also given to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

He has given to every man his work! Every man! What work has God given you to do? He has given you a work. Do you not see that He said “every man”? There is not a person who has nothing to do in the Kingdom in preparation for Christ to show up. You see, we all have a work. And whatever that work is, are you doing it? And are you doing it faithfully? The Master of the house is coming, whether it be at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning. And we must be laboring hard in His work, lest coming suddenly He find us sleeping. May He not find us sleeping! But may He find us working! Jesus said that His meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work. That must be our goal also for which we will strive. To finish His work! To do His will! To watch! To stay awake! Ready for Him to come! Watch and pray, my beloved, and continue faithfully in the work that He has given you to do, for His coming draweth nigh.

“Dear Father, we know that You have foretold us and warned us many a time, and have repeatedly commanded us to be prepared for the coming of Christ. May we prepare each day faithfully for His coming. And in the meantime, help us to complete the work You have given us, because we all have something to do as we look for You. May You find us faithful! We want to be busy today about our Father’s business! In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”