Are You Prepared?
／By Lillian Man
Recently, my sister and I auditioned for a rather prestigious instrumental group known as Senior Regional Orchestra. Musicians from the various high schools in Northern Virginia auditioned to be accepted into Senior Regionals.
During warm-up time, and auditorium full of high schoolers scrambled for last minute preparation. Stringed instruments screeched, cymbals crashed together, and trumpets blared. Each musician was fully concentrating on their music and anticipating their upcoming audition.
When my sister and I found out that we had been accepted into the orchestra, we were pleased. However, Senior Regional Orchestra is an event that takes place every year and there are always chances for a musician to prove his or her ability. But when we face God, we have only one chance. Will we be ready when God judges us? This is not just a fairly simple audition such as one for acceptance into an orchestra, but the ultimate judging, the Day of Judgment! There is no second chance for you to prove yourself.
But unlike the audition, when we knew at what time we would be judged, we do not know when Jesus will be coming;. Therefore, we must prepare ourselves and be alert. Mattew 24:42-44 (NIV) says, "Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him."
With verses such as these in mind, how can we just sit back and relax? How can we put off serving God or accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior "later"? Matthew 25:1-13 is a parable that illustrates the importance of being prepared now. Ten virgins take their lamps to meet the bridegroom. The five wise virgins are prepared and take oil in jars along with their lamps, but the foolish ones do not. The bridegroom does not come for a seemingly long period of time, so all the virgins fall asleep.
When the bridegroom does come, however, the five wise virgins light their lamps and hurry to meet Him. The foolish ones are unprepared and the door of the wedding banquet is shut. Thus, we must always prepare ourselves.
We need to have a daily devotion with God in order to know His commands, promises, will, and so on. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tell us that "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Simply attending church or a fellowship group is not a good substitute for daily devotion. If your reason for not having a daily devotion is that you lack enough time, you may have to sacrifice another activity of lesser importance or spend less time on that activity.
We need to meditate on God's Word and pray to Him that our lives would reflect His image. If we read and know God's Word, but do nothing about that knowledge, what good is it? James 1:22-25 commands, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he will be blessed in what he does." We need to examine ourselves to see that every aspect of our life reflects God's image.
Thirdly, we need to pray and talk to God constantly, Communication is key to an intimate relationship with God, and one way we can do hat is through prayer. God already knows what we will pray about before we do it, but He wants us to present our requests to Him just the same. Colossians 4:2 says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Also, we are not limited to when and what we can talk to God about. We can talk to God about our day at school or work, our relationships - anything and everything! Ephesians 6:18 says, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
If we have a close relationship with God, read and meditate on His Word, pray to Him, and see that our purpose in life is to manifest His glory, then hopefully, when we go to see God, He can say to us with open arms, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
