Don’t be caught off guard (The budding fig tree Mark 13:28-33)

Don’t be caught off guard (The budding fig tree Mark 13:28-33)
I hate it when people are caught off guard by what they knew was coming, yet they are completely unprepared when it happens. It is understandable if something pops up completely out of nowhere and it catches you by surprise but things that have been on the schedule for months or is a reoccurring event should not ever throw you through a loop. When a professor hands you a syllabus on the first day of the class that says the midterm exam will be on October 5th at 10:00am and you show up unprepared then you get what you deserve. You were warned and given plenty of notice as to what was coming so if you are unprepared, it is completely on you. In the parable of the budding fig tree Jesus tells everyone that there is no way they should be caught off guard when summer shows up because the fig tree lets everyone know when it is near. And no one should be caught off guard when the end draws near because throughout chapter 13 of the book of Mark, Jesus tells us what this world is going to look like so we will be prepared. If God himself tells us exactly what to be looking for and we get caught off guard or by surprise, we have no one to blame but ourselves on the day of judgement.
Matthew 24:42 tells us all to be on the lookout and to be ready for the coming of the Lord, those who are unprepared and not on watch will be the ones shocked and caught off guard. Our Bibles are full of warnings to be ready for this life to end and for eternity to begin, yet many still slumbers and miss the signs. God does not warn us to scare everyone, God warns us because He wants us to all be prepared and ready to go. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God does not want any of us to perish but all of us to come to repentance. If individuals are caught off guard and miss the signs it is not because God has not warned them and it is not because the Creator of all does not love them, it is because they neglected the warns and refused the love. If you knew a thief was coming to your home in the middle of the night you would not just go to bed like normal and hope everything ends up ok, you would stay awake watching and waiting for their arrival, so you are not robbed. Several scriptures in the New Testament describe the return of the Lord to a thief coming in the night (Revelation16:15, Matthew 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:4, etc.), we should be equally diligent protecting our souls as we are over our home.