What if, when we obey the thing that God tells us to do — love, forgive, talk about, share — we prayed and then we were ready to move. Rather than sitting back and waiting for God to move us, or to show us not to move, we were ready to walk out the door, or to make the house our own, to welcome someone home or to release them on their way.

Paul talks about this urgency to follow God, this idea of planning to obey.

When we think we have a long time until a deadline, some of us let things go. We don’t stay in touch with people the way we know we should. We don’t work as hard to accomplish the work in front of us. We put things off. We keep things loose.

But when we know that something is about to happen, we have a clarity. In the last days before someone goes on a trip, we want to see them as much as we can. We take care of loose ends. We don’t waste time and energy on the things that don’t matter. We concentrate on the things that do.

And Paul says, “God’s coming.”

Sometimes people look at this as that moment when Jesus appears again. To everyone. And that is likely. But for all of us, with the current death rate of 100%, there is a personal appearing.

There is a moment when this part of life ends. Paul looks at that as morning, as beginning. And he calls us to be ready. To live lives looking for ways to love people rather than using them for our own pleasure. To look for their wellbeing, their best interest, their growth and godliness more than our own.

Because that’s where we find our own.