Everything in life is about preparation when you stop and think about it

Everything in life is about preparation when you stop and think about it. We prepare for our day in varying ways, usually at least eating something and having something to drink, to renew our energy and get us ready for whatever the day holds. We prepare to go to work by getting enough sleep to make it through the work day, and again getting some energy into our bodies by getting something to eat and drink before working. We prepare for our financial obligations by knowing what we owe, and being sure we keep enough money back to make our necessary payments for living. We prepare for tests in school by taking solid notes, doing our reading, and studying for the test material. If we're going to be married, we prepare for that by getting to know someone well enough to know that we love love them enough to marry them, and that they are likewise about that. We also go to certain lengths to nurture that affection for each other. If we're going to have children, then we prepare for that by determining how we are going to raise them, and we make sure we will have the time and financial ability to do so. If we're an athlete, then we prepare for games and athletic contests by practicing our sport, paying attention to nutrition, exercising according to our sport's demands, and getting enough rest. The list goes on and on, but I'm certain the point is sufficiently made. As children of God we have the greatest responsibility of preparation in all the world, and the stakes could not possibly be higher than the stakes involved with eternal salvation. If you believe that salvation is automatic upon your initial faith in Christ, then I don't think I can do anything for you at this time. But if you believe what the Bible says about how everlasting salvation is obtained, then I believe this article will be able to edify your faith. I would like to just take a simple look at two of the apostles of Christ, and how they prepared themselves. We will also see that whether they knew it or not, like us they were certainly preparing for a time to come.

First I'll point out a few things that typified how John approached his idea of salvation. John referred to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" on more than one occasion, and there was a good reason for that (Jn. 13:23; Jn. 19:26; Jn. 20:2; Jn. 21:7; Jn. 21:20). John made it his business to simply be as close to Jesus as he could possibly be, and the following passage demonstrates that clearly: "When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon" (Jn. 13:21-26). In Matthew's account of the last supper he shows that all of the apostles asked Jesus if it was they who would betray him, upon him saying that one of them would do so. But in the passage cited above from John, we see that Peter got John's attention, asking him to ask Jesus who it was that would betray him. So why did Peter try to get John to find out the answer to this pressing question? Simple. Because John was the closest one to Jesus, as usual. We also see that Jesus told John who it was. That's always who is going to get the clearest and fastest answers from Jesus, meaning those who are the closest to him. That's just plain common sense. It wasn't a coincidence that John was the closest to Jesus at the last supper, and the remainder of the story proves that out. After Jesus was apprehended by the Jews, only Peter and John followed him (Jn. 18:15). But while John went into the palace of the high priest, refusing to depart from Jesus' side, Peter remained outside and finally denied to those who questioned him, that he even knew Jesus (Jn. 18:17,25-27; Mat. 26:73-75).

After Jesus was finally condemned by Pilate and was crucified, John was the only apostle who was at the foot of the cross (Jn. 19:26). Why? Because John always made it his business to be as close to Jesus as possible, and he repeatedly demonstrated that. Upon hearing that Jesus had risen from the dead, Peter and John ran to the sepulcher to find out if it was true. The scripture tells us that John outran Peter, and though Peter was the first to enter the sepulcher, it says that John was the first between them to believe that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead (Jn. 20:1-8). John was 'the disciple whom Jesus loved,' which obviously means 'the most,' because it was John who loved Jesus the most. Jesus was what was on John's mind the entire time that he was with them, and that is why John naturally made it his business to always be as close to Jesus as possible. He trusted in Jesus implicitly, being fully persuaded that Jesus was indeed the very Son of God. After all, it was he wrote the following: "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God... Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood" (I Jn. 5:1,5,6). Believing that Jesus is the Son of God went all the way with John, and covered everything about his life. It was also he who wrote the following: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also" (I Jn. 2:22,23). Yes indeed, John was fully persuaded from beginning to end that Jesus came from heaven, and that he is absolutely the only begotten Son of Almighty God.

He may have said it best in this passage: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (I Jn. 1:1-3). Because he was so convinced that Jesus was the Son of God, it was easy for John to fulfill the first half of the following proverb: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). So John was preparing to be the only apostle who would follow Jesus all the way to the cross, and the first of them to believe that he had risen from the dead, the entire time that he was with Jesus. And his preparation was simply to keep his mind on Jesus, and stay as close to him as he could be. Our other example would be Judas of course, as you may have already guessed. We know that it was Judas who betrayed Jesus, but he did not just stumble a little at the end and miss the mark. Judas was preparing to be the one to betray Jesus the entire time he was with him. We are told that near the end of Jesus' time on earth Judas went to the Jews and convened with them about turning Jesus over to them for thirty pieces of silver (Mat. 26:14-16). But it needs to be understood that in the mind of Judas he was not actually betraying Jesus, and in fact he never dreamed that the Jews would have Jesus put to death. This is evidenced by the fact that Judas tried to give the money back to the Jews after seeing that Jesus was condemned to death. He also hung himself once he saw the circumstances could not be altered (Mat. 27:3-5).

Judas thought he was merely getting Jesus together with the council of the Jews in order to 'get things worked out' between them. He never intended to get Jesus killed, and that is why he killed himself after seeing that he had done exactly that. The reason for this is because Judas simply thought too much, and didn't trust Jesus enough. And the reason he didn't trust Jesus enough is because his belief in Jesus being the Son of God was being slowly drained out of him the entire time that he was with Jesus. That is how he arrived at the notion that he knew better than Jesus about what needed to be done in regard to the enemies of Jesus. In failing to "Trust in the Lord with all [his] heart," and subsequently "leaning on [his] own understanding," he made himself in fact the greatest enemy of Jesus in all of history. But like I said earlier, Judas was preparing for that moment all the while that he was with Jesus. It was John who wrote the following telling insight into the mind of Judas: "Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein" (Jn. 12:3-6). The mind of Judas was not stayed upon Jesus, and neither did he trust implicitly in Jesus. That is evident in this passage because Judas was in effect stating that his judgment in the matter of the expensive ointment was better than that of Jesus, who was allowing Mary to anoint him with it. It is also evident by this passage that Judas had more regard for money than he did for Jesus, unlike Mary. Judas COULD NOT trust fully in Jesus because he had been stealing from the money bag which he carried, being the treasurer of the ministry.

Again it was John who gave us the only recipe of having confidence toward God, meaning the ability to trust him fully: "For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight" (I Jn. 3:20-22). Judas had more confidence toward himself than he did toward Jesus, because he had been doing things his way all along. It's certain that Judas had a 'good' reason for why he was stealing from the bag, and because of that 'good' reason he tried to convince himself that he wasn't stealing. He managed to deceive his own heart, but his conscience was defiled because the conscience always knows the truth. Not being willing to come clean about his thievery, Judas had nowhere else to go but to his own mind. And he certainly did go to to his own mind, and he convinced himself that his mind was superior to the mind of Jesus. That is why he took matters into his own hands, and tried to work things out in his own way, rather than to trust implicitly in Jesus as John did. Judas was a blatant example of something Jesus had taught earlier in his ministry: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Mat. 6:24). Before it was all said and done, all of Judas' faith in Jesus being the Son of God was gone. Again, that is why he saw his own methods as being better than the way Jesus was handling things. So in the end John was preparing himself all along to be at the foot of the cross, and to be the first apostle to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. Likewise Judas was preparing himself all along to end up being the chief reason that Jesus was crucified as a blasphemer and a criminal.

John, for his preparation became the most beloved man, and favored by God, in the history of the world. So also Judas with his preparation became the most detested man in the history of the world, for his chief part in the unjust condemning of Jesus. With all of these things in mind, we need every one of us to understand that we as children of God are preparing ourselves to follow the example that John set; or we are preparing ourselves to follow in the footsteps of Judas. There just isn't any other possibility. No wonder the apostle Paul admonished us with the following statement: "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phlip 2:12). It comes down to whether or not we keep our faith in Jesus being the Son of God, as solid as a rock, or we don't. Again the apostle Paul gives it to us straight and pure: "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Heb. 3:12-14). Let's allow Paul to hammer this point home one more time with this memorable exhortation that he gave to the believers in Rome: "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:6-9). I believe that says it for now. God bless.