It is possible to live for
an entire lifetime, spiritually immature.
It is possible to live in a dream world, as if bad stuff only happens to
other people, as if personal choices had no consequences, as if Almighty God,
was rather like a benign Santa Clause, morally neutral, making no demands upon
our lives, who smiles even in the face of gross immorality and deliberate
sin. The scripture readings appointed
for the last days of the old liturgical year and these first days of Advent are
absolutely filled with dire warnings about the consequences of such foolish
thinking. Their bracing message is
almost like an insistent drumbeat, hammering home over and over again, the same
challenging warnings.
Life is always radically
insecure. Time is always a limited
treasure. Sickness and wars trouble and
disasters certainly even death itself, are always a part of the human
condition. So God’s Word challenges both
the young and old, to stay awake and be alert.
Watch and pray because we do not know, the time nor the hour, when the
Lord will suddenly break into our lives and demand an accounting for our
actions.
