My heart has been heavy for quite sometime now. I feel a sense of urgency that will not dissipate. Instead, it is a sense of urgency that grows with each new day. I believe with all of my heart, mind, and soul that we do not have long before Jesus returns to take us home.

Today I was reading Zephaniah. The whole little book is wonderful. One of my favorite verses is found in Zephaniah. It says, “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 NIV. Isn’t that beautiful? The thought of my God rejoicing over me with singing is more than my feeble brain can comprehend.

I need that kind of love in my life. Don’t you?

Anyway, I read through the whole book of Zephaniah again this morning. I encourage you to do the same! Zephaniah only has three chapters so it is a pretty easy read. Like I said, my heart has been heavy, and this little book really reiterated those feels again today.

“On that day,” declares the Lord, ” a cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the New quarter, and a loud crash from the hills.

Wail, you who live in the market district; all your merchants will be wiped out, all who trade with silver will be ruined.

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.’

Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine.

The great day of the Lord is near – near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there.

That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the corner towers.

I will bring distress on the people and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their entrails like filth.

Neither their silver no their gold will be able to save them on the day of Lord’s wrath. In the fire of His jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for He will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.”

Zephaniah 1: 10 – 18 NIV.

The Day of the Lord. I am writing this not to dwell on the unpleasantness or to be morbid. The fact is, the Day of the Lord is coming. Quickly.

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The reason my heart has been heavy is not because I live in worry or fear. My heart is heavy because I want all of those I love to be ready for that day. I want those around me to know – to prepare their hearts for what is to come. Verse 12 says, “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent.”

Complacent is defined contented to a fault; self-satisfied and unconcerned. Am I complacent? Are you complacent? Do we want to be complacent? I don’t! And yet, I know that there are days when I am.

It is so easy to simply go about our lives thinking that things will always be the same; to believe that we have all the time in the world to “get it right.” I am at the point in my life where I can’t wait for the Lord to come back. But am I ready? Are my children ready?

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My heart is heavy with the knowledge that I need to prepare my children today for what is to come. There is not time to put it off.

Revelation 3: 15-17 NIV. says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”

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Can I afford to be complacent? Can any of us afford to be complacent? Lukewarm?

“But the day of Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You out to live holy godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.

That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a  new earth, the home of righteousness.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him…

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever! Amen.”

2 Peter 3: 10-18 NIV.

Behold He comes quickly.