Get Ready!

Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:44

I had a conversation yesterday with one of my co-workers concerning certain things he did not understand about the Bible. One of those questions was what happens to the people who have different religions? My answer was the bible says that no one can come to Father except through the Son. Anyone who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior before they die or before He returns for His church, with the exception of the specific number of Jews mentioned in Revelation, will go to hell. So he says “Then 2.5 billion people are going to hell!” The conversation continued and I explained to him that everyone will have the opportunity to receive Christ before He comes back for His church and that God will give man every opportunity to accept His gift of salvation. If man rejects this gift he will burn for eternity, however if he accepts it, He will see the Father. He then asked me when Jesus is returning. I answered him, “we know not the day or the hour when the Son of man will return, which is why we have to live every day as if His return were today.” Matthew 24:44 tells us the same thing! We must be ready because He will come at a time when we least expect. We must try to always be in that expectation that when we wake up in the morning it may be the day the Lord returns or when we go to bed at night we may not wake up in our beds the next morning but find ourselves in glory with the Lord! However if we are not ready, we risk losing it all. I know, it is too early for such gloomy thoughts, but the reality is that we have to examine ourselves everyday and look to see if we are ready. We are human and fallible, which is why we must stay in prayer, in the Word, and walk in the spirit! Everyday I wake up, I say Lord I want to be ready when You return. There are so many things that we have to be mindful of in our daily walk with the Lord. We must not neglect our communication with the Lord; our personal time of devotion and prayer. We must not neglect studying His word and we must not neglect congregating with the saints. Most importantly we must not forget our reason for living – Jesus our source of life. We live because He lives. We exist because He created us and He created us with a purpose. We live to worship and adore Him. That is our purpose! Humanity is fallen and therefore those of us who have freely received the gift of salvation must give freely of what freely we have received. Or as they say in Spanish “Dad por gracia lo que por gracia has recibido.” For my friends who don’t speak or read Spanish, that is the Spanish version of give freely of what freely we have received. Not trying to throw you guys off here with the Spanish. J We must live each day as though today were the day that we would be caught up to be with the Lord always. That is our hope! That is what we are waiting for! To me the greatest reward is to see the face of my beloved Savior Jesus! I know there are beautiful and tremendous things in heaven but the only person I want to see and if I don’t see anything but His face, I will have seen all of heaven!! Praise God! I don’t know about you guys, but I find myself thinking more and more of that day when we go home to be with the Lord. When we will no longer live as strangers in a foreign land but as citizens of heaven! Glory, glory, glory! My brothers and sisters let us live everyday with the expectation of the return of our Lord. Let’s live today as if today were the day that He would find us laboring in His vineyard, with our lamps full of oil and burning, and ready to meet our bridegroom! Praise the Lord!!!

Afterthought: Like the song says “People get ready, Jesus is coming, soon we’ll be going home. People get ready, Jesus is coming, to take from the world His own.” Hallelujah!!!! (Crystal Lewis – People Get Ready)