Are You Prepared?

I was informed recently of a natural disaster that is supposedly scheduled to happen soon in the area where I live. The emphasis that was given to me was that I needed to be prepared. That got me to thinking about being prepared. Well, I can neither create a natural disaster, or prevent one from happening (Nor am I committed to the report that was given to me). However I can for sure be prepared. For the natural disaster? Sure, but I, and we, need to be prepared for a whole lot more than that. We need to be prepared for our next trial, whether big or small. And that is saying something, seeing that Job informed us that we “are tried every moment" (Job 7:18). Every moment? That is what the scripture says. Now I could get into a long list of details on how it is that we are being tried every moment, but let’s cut to the chase here. At the very least, we are being tried every moment to see what we choose to keep our minds on (II Cor. 10:4,5). Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not getting overly religious here and suggesting that we have to have our minds directly on the Lord every moment, because we don’t. If we are on a job, or in some other situation where our focus is required, then that is what our mind should be on at the moment. But at any time we can choose to allow our minds to go to something undue or frivolous, or to keep it in a productive channel. Honestly, we can have our minds either directly or subconsciously on the Lord at almost all times. And we are absolutely being tried in various ways with every circumstance, whether pleasant or unpleasant. The point here is that we need to be prepared for the next time someone cuts us off in traffic, or looks at us with ill intent. We need to be prepared for the next time the dinner is left in the oven or on the stove to burn up. And we need to be prepared for the next time that some kind of offer, in some kind of subtly wrong way, is made to us with some kind of assurance of personal gain attached. Oh friend, we need to be prepared for RIGHT NOW! A good case in point to look at is Peter’s deliverance from prison by an angel of the Lord the night before he was scheduled to be executed (Acts 12:1-10). He was sleeping peaceably when the angel came to him. Why wasn’t he up fretting, or at least praying frantically? Because he was already prepared for the here and now.

So how can we possibly be prepared for all these eventualities? It’s really not so complicated: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. 4:23). The "issues of life” mentioned here means everything that our life produces, in spirit, mind, word, and deed (Mk. 7:20-23; Prov. 18:21). It certainly makes sense that we should keep our hearts from anything wrong, seeing that the scriptures are replete with the promise that we will all be judged according to our works; and according to the preceding scriptures, our works come from our hearts (Eccl. 12:14; Rom. 14:10; II Cor. 5:10; etc.). John said that those who will be prepared for the coming of the Lord are those who “purify [themselves], even as he is pure" (I Jn. 3:3). The apostle Paul admonished us that by "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world" (Tit. 2:12). Peter said, "be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer" (I Pet. 4:7). And Peter also told us, "be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (II Pet. 3:14). Again Paul told us to "put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;… Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on [love], which is the bond of perfectness" (Col. 3:8,9,12-14). To add to these, Jesus put everything in it’s proper order when he commanded us to "seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” To sum up the point of this writing, Jesus in the same breath added this for good measure: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Mat. 6:33,34). It sounds like Jesus was saying that we need to be prepared for today, and that if we continually do that we will be prepared for tomorrow and what it brings, provided that it does indeed come (Jas. 4:14,15). Amen.