Be Ready

Be Ready

Read: Luke 12:35-40

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.”

Luke 12:35

“We are not a post-war generation but a pre- peace generation. Jesus is coming.”

—Corrie ten Boom

IN WORD We are told at nearly every turn that we are products of our past. Our biological makeup and much of our personalities result from the genetic material of our ancestors. Our decisions, our flaws, and our preferences are the result of our childhood and our social environments. Everything we are, according to the psychologists and the geneticists, comes from a previous condition.

No, says Jesus. Our behavior today is to be based on our future. Our new nature has come from Him, we are being conformed to His likeness, and our deeds today are to be determined by the fact that He is coming again. We are products of a coming kingdom, not a conditioning past.

Jesus tells His disciples to be ready at all times, like servants prepared for a returning master. We are to be dressed like servants, clothed in the garments He has given us. Even in the dark hours, when we see unclearly and grow discouraged, we are to keep our lamps burning. We should not grow despondent if He delays. We are to serve in His household while He is away, keeping our eyes open to see Him when He returns.

IN DEED Are we ready for His return? If we are living according to our past, which is based on a corrupt inheritance, we are not. But if we are living according to our future as fellow heirs with Christ and sons of the living God, then we can know that we are ready.

Let your future guide your present. Remember who you are in Christ. Remember who He promises you will be for all eternity. Base your actions today on the fact that you are being conformed to His image and when you see Him you will be like Him (1 John 3:2). Don’t let the past define you. Know that He is coming again and your future will be fulfilled. And be ready.