He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!(Revelation 22:20 NLT)

As we look forward to 2019, what does it tell us at the end of the Book?  It reveals to us that Jesus is coming soon and what our response should be.

The great Bible commentator, Matthew Henry once said of this verse, “What comes from heaven as a promise should return to heaven as a prayer.” The coming of Christ should motivate us to words and deeds.  King David said, “Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God.  Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.”  We owe a debt to all believers who have gone before us, yet, we pay this obligation forward not backward.  As we were taught, encouraged, and had godly role models, so must we do likewise for the emerging generation.  It matters not if his return is this generation, the next, or a thousand generations from now, our mentality must always be the same, the imminent return of King Jesus.  We must plan like it will be many generations from now, but work as it will be tomorrow. It does not matter if you are a full-time Christian worker or pursue another career path, every believer has a role in hastening the return of Christ.

Paying our debt forward to new believers is actually paying back our ultimate indebtedness to the goodness and mercy of Christ.  It is not really about how successful we are in our ministry pursuits, but working for that eternal purpose of bringing back the King.  In 2019 let’s pray, Amen, come, Lord Jesus!

I worked for seventeen years as a missionary with Youth With A Mission.  My missionary work has taken me to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Spain, and Ukraine.  I hold a Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Commonwealth University.  [email protected]