Nougat 23

I love to read. It’s genuinely my passion. So you can understand my reading my cousin’s literature texts when I visited her at my grandmother’s house and I’d run out of my own reading material. One of her books had a story about the Honest Thief (I think the text was Ways or was it Rays of Sunlight?). I suspect that today’s Holy Nougat was on the writer’s mind when he wrote.

“Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭43‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Keep Watch 2

The Honest Thief was a short story about a man whose bananas were legendary. He was obsessed with the new bunch of bananas on his tree and a villager promised to steal them.

What moved the plot was that the thief gave the banana man a three hour window in which the bananas would be stolen. And so the banana man set watch, armed with coffee and gun, to deal with the thief, and waited.

That is exactly as our nougat indicates. I suspect most of us who have an idea of a thief’s intentions, unless participating in insurance scams, would set watch for a thief. But what if the ‘thief’ is Jesus? What if His desire is to steal us away from the challenges this world brings, into a kingdom of eternal worship. Would we be on watch for Him?

You see siblings, not only is that on offer, but Jesus has gone and given us signs to watch for. So we can begin keeping watch like the banana man. By combining the metaphor with Jesus’s words, I propose that we do the following

A. Keep alert with our coffee

If coffee is supposed to keep us awake (it has stimulation ingredients), then we can consider Prayer as our coffee. That’s the secret to avoid temptation according to Jesus in Matthew 26. And Paul was a believer in Praying Continuously.(1 5:17) In so doing, Jesus is central to our thoughts and God’s Spirit sustains us through temptation.

B. Stay Armed

The Banana man took no chances. He was not only alert in anticipation of the honest thief, but he was armed. Is our armour in tact? Ephesians 6 assures us that we are in the middle of a war against spiritual forces: principalities, powers, rulers and high ranked evil. In counteroffensive and defense mode, we not only get a gun, but we stay ready to rout the enemy trying to prevent us from escaping with Jesus. Let’s also tear down any strongholds in our lives that would result in our being less than ready. 1 Corinthians 10:4-5 offers good advice on what to do.

C. Wait patiently

Obviously, waiting can seem endless and interminable. But since we’re actively preparing, in the waiting season we also keep watch. Or, as Paul’s letters suggest, we forego past sins and press toward the mark of God’s higher calling ie keep watch see (Philippians 3:14). It is not easy; the disciples ALL faltered.

That’s where God’s grace sustains us

We are not alone. There are others keeping watch, there’s a crowd and cloud of witnesses cheering us on, and Jesus has already petitioned for us. Our only task: Keep Watch.

Will we?

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May all we seek be found in Christ