Homeland Security Isn’t The Only One Who Wants You To Prepare
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While I was out for my morning walk wondering where this global warming was that everyone is talking about (30 degrees in mid-April? Come on!) As I listened to the Daily Audio Bible in my earbuds I had an interesting revelation regarding a passage in Scripture where the Lord is talking about the day of His return. You’ve likely heard this passage either from Matthew or Luke (and today I’ll quote Matthew 24:44 (ESV) that says “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” There’s no question that Jesus is talking about the second coming and that you, me, Joel Osteen, Billy Graham, Oprah…none of us know when Christ will come back to collect His own. However, I think there’s another lesson that can be learned from that passage and it has to do with our serving the Lord.
The return of Christ will be unexpected so we are to always be ready for it. That means living our lives in a manner that we should expect Him to return. If we are living that way we should then be ready to go into His service at any point in time and I wonder if we’re really ready to make that kind of commitment when we don’t see “God’s call” immediately in front of us.
We’ve become a society where we are seeking instant gratification for the things that we want in life. If we’re hungry, we go to a fast food place and usually get what we want in a matter of minutes. If we want to watch a movie, the video store is down the street or you could even download something on your computer to watch in seconds. We only really prepare for things when they’re imminent and we know they’re coming because we have a problem planning and looking for things that are months or years down the road. It’s especially hard to prepare if we don’t know what’s going to happen or if it’s ever going to happen.
I think that when it comes to serving the Lord, we fall a lot into the last part of the last paragraph. So many times we say we want to serve the Lord yet we don’t take the time to prepare for it. We don’t read our Bibles every day. We don’t help out at church or attend Bible studies or small groups. We show up on Sunday mornings…and Sunday nights if there’s a potluck dinner…but outside of that we give a curt little “yeah, I want to serve God” when asked about it but we never really take it to heart.
What will you do when God says “OK, it’s time to go” and you realize that you’re not ready? I know many say God will give you what you need to do the job…and He will…but that doesn’t mean it’s instant knowledge of the Word of God or the skills to do something. That preparation…that “giving you what you need”…could be months or years of training in something that you never realized was going to be God’s call upon your life. He sees the whole picture…we only see a piece of it. God could be placing in front of you a task that seems meaningless right now but is actually training you for a larger ministry in that same field.
Did you ever stop to think that making a sandwich for a homeless man at a shelter could lead to you running a shelter in your town? That taking the time to sit and comfort a friend could lead to you becoming a counselor to help hundreds or thousands of people in emotional turmoil? That volunteering at the crisis center could lead to you running a home for battered and abused women? It may seem like some little task that doesn’t mean very much to the grand scheme of things but in reality it’s a little thing that is being driven by the grand scheme.
It’s very scary to ask the Lord to show you the things that are in the way of serving Him and the things you need to do to prepare for what He has planned for you next because it will likely make no sense. He will ask you to give up things you don’t want to give up and He will ask you to do things you do not want to do. However, the more you surrender to God’s will the more He will bless you and even if you’re facing a serious trial He will give you what you need to get through and be refined into what He wants you to be.
So take that first step and pray asking the Lord for His will be to be done in your life and for Him to show you the way. Then be encouraged that your Father loves you enough to give you that guidance and direction.
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