Life is complicated, right? There are so many facets; so many things to do. When I get overwhelmed by it all, I try to think about what’s really important. But when I think about God’s plan, the simplicity of this physical life overwhelms me more! Very few things in life seem to matter in light of God’s coming Kingdom. I still find it hard to give priority to the things that will continue to be important when God’s Kingdom is established though.

As we all know, the end of the present world is coming. I’m not talking about December 21, 2012. The end I’m talking about won’t be anything like the hyped up 2012 end of the world scare. That is clearly not going to happen. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).

This end is coming soon. Only the Father knows the day and the hour, but we must be on watch for Christ’s coming. We need to be watching the world around us for the signs. But more importantly we need to be preparing ourselves for God’s Kingdom after the great tribulation. Jesus talks in Luke 17:26-30 about the state of the world in the days of Noah shortly before they were destroyed. They were eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting and building. Even though these times were very wicked, Jesus talks about them in this scripture going about their regular business.

The question is, will we be ready for Christ’s coming? Or will we be like the foolish virgins who were too late to prepare when the Bridegroom came (Matthew 25:1-13)? We have to make sure we aren’t so consumed in our day-to-day lives that we miss what’s important: character building, using our talents, our relationship with God and our neighbors. These are the things we will also need at the end of this world.