Sunday afternoon, my partner and fellow minister here at Karns, called to inform me he wasn’t feeling well. He wanted to know if I could preach for him that night. I agreed to preach and to my knowledge, I was able to get through it even though I wasn’t nearly as prepared as I normally am when I stand up to proclaim God’s Word.
As I spent time reflecting on Sunday, I kept coming back to the same thought. I kept thinking about how important it is to always be ready. It’s a thought I think all people would agree is a great idea, but it’s something very few people are good putting into practice.
I don’t like the feeling of being unprepared for anything. Whether its public speaking, an exam or an important conversation, I like to always be ready. As some might say, “I like to have my ducks in a row.”
As Christians, there are several things we need to always be ready for. Consider just a few:
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To Bear Other’s Burdens. Life is hard and sometimes it just slaps you across the face. When this happens, we all need someone to sit, listen, talk, cry and encourage us, don’t we? Paul encourages us to bear the burdens of others (Gal. 6:2). Opportunities to act on this may come at unexpected times. We must always be ready when such an opportunity presents itself.
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To Give An Answer For Our Faith. Many people claim to be Christians, but how many can defend their faith? Peter reminds Christians to always be ready to defend the faith (I Pet. 3:15). Part of my responsibility as a disciple of Christ is to be ready to defend Christ to unbelievers, even when it’s unanticipated.
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To Do Good. Paul reminded the churches of Galatia to always do good when the opportunity presented itself (Gal. 6:10). How many times a time do we pass up an opportunity to do good for someone else, because it’s inconvenient for us? As we go about our daily lives, we must always be ready to lend a helping hand. Who knows, it could make an eternal difference.
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To Obey God. I’m sure most of you reading this post want to obey God, otherwise you probably wouldn’t have continued reading this far. The problem is not that we don’t want to obey God; the problem is we are not always ready to obey God. Take Daniel and his 3 friends as an example. In each situation they found themselves in (Dan. 1:1-21; 3:1-30; 6:1-28), they didn’t wait until that moment to decide to obey God. No, they made up their minds a long time in advance. You and I must always be ready to obey God no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.
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To Welcome The Lord. We don’t know the day nor the hour in which our Lord will return (Matt. 24:36-44). Paul tells us He will come like a thief in the night (I Thess. 5:1-2), this indicates it will be at an unexpected time. When we least expect it, our Lord will return. We must always be ready!
This past Sunday was a good reminder for me of the importance of always being ready. I never know when something is going to happen and I’m going to be asked to fill in on the spot. As I laid my head down Sunday night and thought about the events of the day, I thanked God for the reminder to always be ready and made myself a promise I intend to keep; I’m going to always be ready. What about you?
QUESTION: In what area mentioned do you struggle the most when it comes to always being ready? I’d love to hear from you.