Hope for the Best but Plan for the Worst

In my post last Thursday, I mentioned being misled by people regarding the heavenly Father's character. They gave me the impression that I had to have great faith to get anything out of the Lord.

Since nobody taught me how to read the Bible, I fell for the lie that I shouldn't save for retirement as Christ would soon come. As a consequence of that error, I didn't save any of my wages in a retirement plan.

Christ's disciples also assumed he'd return quickly to make them leaders in his physical kingdom. They also appear to have misunderstood what the angels meant in Acts 1:10 and 11 (BBE). "And while they were looking up to heaven with great attention, two men came to them, in white clothing, And said, 'O men of Galilee, 'why are you looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come again, in the same way as you saw him go into heaven'".'" But no time was given for that event to happen.

We also note that the "last days" only started in the first century. As Peter preached in Acts 2:16 and 17 (BBE), "But this is the thing which was said by the prophet Joel; 'And it will come about, in the last days, says God, that I will send out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will be prophets, and your young men will see visions, and your old men will have dreams:'" Nobody then knew how long it would take for the end of this age to arrive.

This is why I believe Paul wrote what he wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1 (BBE). "But be certain of this, that in the last days times of trouble will come."

It was actually kind of the Lord not to tell his disciples how long the last days would last. That's why he said in Matthew 25:13 (BBE), "Keep watch, then, because you are not certain of the day or of the hour."

So, how do we live with this tension between watching for Christ's return and planning for our futures? We must be ready for his coming but sock away retirement funds in the event that we retire before then.

I wrote about how I failed to plan ahead in my book, How I Was Razed. Had I known how to handle the seeming contradiction of Christ's soon coming verses him not coming in my lifetime, I'd have a much larger nest egg in the bank.

If Christ doesn't return by Thursday, I hope to post about his reappearance.