What will Christ find when He comes?

Jesus is coming again. That promise is central to Christian hope. The question is not whether Christ will come. The question is: What will He find when He comes? Will He find people who know about Him but do not know Him? Will He find people who have religion but no transformation? Will He find people who have defended truth while refusing to love? Will He find people who have professed faith while continuing to make self their master? Or will He find people who have allowed Him to transform their lives? Jesus asked:

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?

Jesus asks this question after teaching His disciples to pray continually and not lose heart (Luke 18:1-8). In the parable, a widow persists in seeking justice, and Jesus contrasts the unjust judge with God, who hears His people. The question therefore calls us to persevering faith and trust as we await His coming. Not merely: Will I be alive when Jesus comes? But: Will He find faith in me? Will He find a heart that trusts Him? A life surrendered to Him? A character being shaped by Him? A person who has learned to love what He loves?

The servant found doing his work

Jesus told His disciples to be ready, and He described what readiness looks like. It is not anxious speculation about the day. It is faithful ordinary service:

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

“So doing.” The master found him at his work. Readiness is not a state of nervous waiting. It is a life being lived faithfully, every day, in the way the master asked. The same teaching goes on to warn about the servant who says in his heart that his master is delaying, and begins to mistreat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards (Matthew 24:48-49). What he does in the master’s absence reveals his character.

What manner of persons ought we to be?

Peter draws a direct line between Christ’s return and our character:

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.

A few verses earlier he asks the question that this book has been asking: “what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” (2 Peter 3:11-12). The answer is not to withdraw into speculation about the day, but to live now as people who expect Him. John makes the same connection, and he places abiding at the centre:

And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

Abide in Him. We have come back to the vine. And John goes on to say that “everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). The hope of seeing Christ shapes the way we live today. Paul adds that the grace of God teaches us to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12-13).

The question that remains

We have travelled from a question about possessions to a question about the heart. The journey of this book has led us to Christ: who He is, what He is doing in us, and what He will find when He returns. The answer will not be found in what we have accumulated, but in whom we have trusted and what He has formed in us. May He find faith. May He find a character shaped by grace, a life surrendered, and a person who has learned to love what He loves.