"Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.  Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.  But if that wicked slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know.  He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

"When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, they made a golden calf from their earrings and worshiped it, and reveled and danced." (Exodus 32:1-6, 19)

"In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying “Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3.3-4)

Note that in each case the doubters spoken of are the members of the household of the faith.  At Mt. Sinai it was the chosen people who fell away.  In the Gospel account, the Christian is likened to a servant of God who believes Christ will not come in his lifetime and so can act as he wishes.  And in Peter’s letter those who say “where is his coming?” are the Christians of the future.  Certainly non-Christians never expect his coming anyway and so wouldn’t even care enough to ask the question.

What is it in human nature that seeks to turn to what is vile when a delay in God’s promised return seems evident?  In the above mentioned passages, it does not appear to be a lack of faith per se.  Whatever it is, we must heed the warnings given.  We indeed share the very same human nature as those who built the calf, as the slave who turned to drunkenness and as the scoffing Christians Peter speaks of.  The answer lies not in no longer assuming Christ will come in our lifetime, but rather in keeping oil in our lamps.  Always on the watch for our master’s coming.  If we knew a thief was going to rob our house this month, we would be vigilant every moment.  Even so, the wise Christian makes very careful use of the time allotted to him.