How should Christians prepare for the Lord’s return?

For many centuries now, people have read the Bible and come to the conclusion that this world will eventually come to an end. But the question that many others ask is: Is it really going to happen? When will it be? And how is it going to happen? And what do the Scriptures say about the end of the world? Some two millennia ago, Jesus disciples asked a question that have continued to intrigue people ever since. This question is found in Matthew 24:3. “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” When? And what does the Bible actually say about this critical and disturbing question? It’s not only the religious people who are asking questions about this. In the past years people from all walks of life have shown their concern about the probability of the end of this world as it’s constituted. Educators, politicians, and scientists foresee the world’s end from a number of causes. These include nuclear warfare, planetary pollution, overpopulation, environmental disaster and the earth’s collision with an asteroid or a comet. There are many religious leaders who have predicted the end of the world, and such predictions have fallen flat in their faces. Believers have been made to sell their earthly goods and hide themselves in bunkers in preparation for the Apocalypse. It has never happened. Just recently, another of the so-called religious leaders predicted that the world is going to end in the year 2028. Today, such predictions are not taken seriously, even when they come from church leaders. The Bible does actually talk about the end of the world in 2 Peter 3:10. It says, “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.” This is going to be a culmination of some series of events referred to as “the day of the Lord.” This is the time that God will intervene in human history for the purpose of judgment. At that time, all that God created, the heavens and earth, according to the book of Genesis, He will destroy. Christians thus believe that the world will eventually come to an end. But what are they doing to prepare for that day? What should Christians do, so that when Jesus comes to take the righteous people, they will also be counted? Mr. Jean Pierre Masengesho, a Christian in Kacyiru warns that people should be wary of those prophets of doom that predict the end of the world for only God, according to the Scriptures, know when the world will end and the Day of Judgment will arrive. He however advises: “We should live godly and holy lives as we look forward for the day. This life is going to pass away. Our focus should be on the earth to come and new heavens. Our lives should be about loving each other and telling others to about our Saviour and the terrible fate that awaits those who reject Him.” He says that believing in Christ is the sure way of saving us from the wrath that will come when the day arrives. He advises that Christians shouldn’t focus too much on this day but to do what can deliver them from the Day of Judgment. He cites the book of Matthew 24:36 which says, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only,” and adds, “Only God knows when the day will come. No one on earth should tell you that the world will end on such a date. These are the false prophets.”