Be Ready!

I was hopping on the bus this week and I saw on a young passenger’s bag a pin with the words “Be ready at all times” and I thought to myself, “isn’t that appropriate!” It is exactly what the Lord is asking us to do in these times. We have to be ready, that is in season and out of season. Ready for what, you may ask? Ready for the Lord; ready to always give an answer for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 3:15); ready to testify to the truth of God’s word or the gospel; ready to declare to the world where your allegiance is; ready to obey and go where the Lord would have you; ready to embrace your new identity in Christ; ready to step into the uncomfortable. There are many benefits to being ready, one is that you are never taken by surprise and you always know what to do. Such people we find sharp and we place them in high esteem. I have noticed that many of the public figures we admire because they are great at what they do or know their craft have this one thing in common: they are always ready. To be ready means to be prepared. The moment you are prepared for what is coming, the readier and more confident you are. It is this mentality that I would like to encourage us to have as we walk as Christians in this confused world. As I continued my readings in the book of Revelation, this idea of readiness came across even more.

You may be among those who feel unease or defensive when someone tells them “Be ready!” or “Watch out!” or “Be on your guard!” and if that is the case let me suggest a better response. The better response is to be thankful and to view the person who gave you the advice as loving and the advice as sound counsel because often, these cautionary words are spoken so that people might be careful to not do what is unlawful and face the consequences. Indeed, when Jesus tells us to be ready because he will come like a thief in the night (Matthew 24:43; Revelation 16:15), what he is essentially telling us is that “I care for you, and I want you to be ready for my return because I want you to escape the judgement that is coming and rest assured, I am coming back”. This, Jesus does not have to tell us, he could well let us be and figure things out on our own but I am so thankful that we have so many passages in the scriptures that remind us to be ready, to always be alert, to not be sluggards. All these in an attempt to encourage us to not be like the “foolish virgins” which appeared to have what it takes to meet the king at first but lacked the oil for their lamp. Their oil ran out because the groom was taking his sweet time which was longer than what they had calculated (Matthew 25:1-13). In his love, Jesus tells us to be ready for his return because he has gone to His Father to make room for us and he will come back for us but he wants to see us remaining in the faith when he comes back (John 14:2-3). His question to us today is still will he find that faith (Luke 18:8)? Will you be ready? God is so merciful and good. This is what I kept seeing in my readings in Revelation. Amidst the multitude of judgement and disasters that will come upon the earth and have come upon the earth or are upon the earth, the Lord Jesus has given us heads up so that we would be prepared, so that we would not be surprised and act like we did not know or do not know what is going on. We have the privilege to have been told many of the things that are happening today and therefore we ought to operate from confidence that our Lord will return as He has promised. And when he comes, the wedding will be consummated, we will be his fully and will be able to live with him forever.

As I was reading about the several seals that were opened in Revelation six and up, I realized that the inhabitants of the earth on whom the disasters were falling upon were not ready for those however in some instances the Lord had sent messengers beforehand (Revelation 11:3). I believe that is usually how the Lord operates, before He executes judgement, He often will send a messenger or messengers to the place to be judged to warn them of what is to come. When the children of Israel were in captivity, God sent many of His prophets to prophesy against the ruling power, Babylon before He eventually took Babylon down. Similarly, God sent Jonah as a messenger to the inhabitants of Nineveh to warn them about the upcoming judgement if they did not repent (Jonah 1:2). The same goes to the people in Noah’s time before the deluge when God sent Noah to warn them of the judgement. In each of these instances, God was gracious enough to warn the people of the upcoming judgement yet in some cases, it did not stop people from not paying attention. In the same way, as we see in Revelation, even after seeing the first signs of judgement, some people would still not repent and turn away from their sins, in fact, they will continue to live in it. As Revelation nine tells us “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21). I read that and I am baffled and I wonder how much one must love himself to be able to resist the Lord to such an extent! May we never be found to be so prideful that we disdain the Lord’s rebuke and nudge to us. Our attitude towards God should only be one of humility and service. We cannot boast before Him because He is way above us. There is no comparison to be made. He is the creator and we are the creature. Something that I was reminded of this week as I read the book of Job was God’s mercy to Job. You see, Job thought that he was righteous, even more so than God because he put God on a judgement seat (Job 32:1-2). However, when God answered the call of Job, one question from Him told Job that he had messed up. The question was “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:1) and another one “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” (Job 41:2). These questions were sufficient for Job to repent. I bring up this story to show that God did not need to give Job an answer for what had happened to him despite the fact that it was horrible. God did not need to appear before Job but in His mercy He did that for Job and for us so that not only would we recognize His mercy but would also get a glimpse of how powerful He is. I personally am grateful for Job’s constant pestering and calling out to God and defending and maintaining his righteousness without that we would not have had God’s response in the chapters thirty-eight to forty-two. This encounter that Job had with God and God’s response is very humbling. We might not understood much of the why but we can recognize that it puts us in our rightful place, which is at the servant level.

Therefore, know that you serve a good, good master, a merciful master and a just judge who is to be feared. He is also a ferocious God when you’re on the other side of receiving His judgement so as we are encouraged in the Bible to do, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Continue to be steady and disciplined with your walk in the Lord. Not neglecting to meet with likeminded believers (Hebrews 10:25), sharpening one another with the word, standing firm in the face of adversity, celebrating your Lord, rejoicing in your Lord in every circumstance, reminding yourself of the goodness of God and His promises, not being wearing of doing good and interceding for the saints across, including those that are carrying the beautiful feet of the gospel to the nations. My prayer is that we, Christians would use every opportunity we have to be mindful of the times we live in and to be even more alert for the King. The good thing is that we have all that we need in Christ to be prepared and we are not alone so then do not delay any longer, get up from your slumber and get to work, you have to be ready!