Awaiting the Master

Matthew 24

I've never really been one for end times stuff.  Somehow, it just doesn't interest me.  It doesn't seem... practical? Trying to decipher what the "signs of the times" and all that mean just seems a bit like a waste of time.
In one sense, I think it isn't practical for us, because we don't live in the situations that the disciples lived in.  Jesus was referring to things that were going to happen within the lifetime of those hearing it; the destruction of Jerusalem and the nation as a whole really.  There are farther reaching things to take from it, but it addressed the immediate concerns of those particular people (which I don't share).  Just like in the Old Testament.  The prophets are referring to things that were relevant to their own day, although those things again had bigger implications.  I don't live in those times, so those things don't seem so important to me.

The other thing is that I don't think one needs to know when the end is coming to be prepared for it.  Jesus tells his listeners to be alert; pay attention.  He talks of a slave who acted as though his master wasn't coming back.  Never mind the fact that he probably wasn't a good slave to begin with, based on how he acted.  But possibly, in that story we see that it shouldn't matter when the master is returning.  We should be good slaves anyway.