Are You Ready? By Lisa Burkhardt Worley
When I was in junior school, I attended charm school. Some of you may be thinking, What happened? 🙂 There was only one thing I remember from what the instructor taught that week. She said, “Always leave the house dressed as if you will meet the President of the United States.” I never forgot that, and to this day, I have trouble walking out the door without makeup on.
This week, I was cleaning the floors in my house. My dog, Jewel, sheds a lot and there were hair balls everywhere, so I ran the dust mop over the floor then mopped it. No one was coming over, but what if someone I did not expect dropped by?
Today, I heard that an acquaintance of mine passed away after a short battle with an aggressive brain cancer. She was a beautiful godly woman, in her forties, who led a ministry. We crossed paths many times, and now I won’t see her smiling face on this side of Heaven.
So as I bring all this together, it’s a reminder that we should always be ready. In this case, ready to meet the greatest dignitary of all, Jesus. We may never come face-to-face with a U.S. President, but we will at some point encounter Jesus. We are not guaranteed tomorrow so let’s ask ourselves a few questions.
Have we taken care of this body we’ve been given?
Have we tried to live a righteous life, one that we will not be embarrassed about?
For those of us who believe Jesus may return in our generation, are we doing everything we can to tell others about Him?
Jesus shared a parable in Matthew 25 about ten virgins and their lamps of oil. Five of them were wise. Five were not. When the bridegroom (Jesus) arrived, the wise virgins met Him with their oil-filled lamps, but because the bridegroom had delayed in returning, the foolish virgins “became drowsy and fell asleep” (Matthew 25:6) so when they heard the bridegroom was on his way, they ran out at the last minute to fill their lamps with oil. But it was too late. While they were scrambling, Jesus returned. The ones who were ready joined him—the others found a closed door when they got back. There were consequences for not being ready.
So it is my encouragement to you today to do an assessment of your life. Is your house clean? If Jesus returned tomorrow, would there be oil in your lamp?
Are you ready?
Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me (Psalm 51:10) NIV.
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We’d love for you to join us at our next POP Chat on October 28th at 6:30 p.m. as Pearls of Promise Founder, Lisa Burkhardt Worley, will teach on “TMI: Why God Doesn’t Give Us Too Much Information.” Singer/Songwriter Renee Rollins will lead worship. This will be one hour of worship, teaching and discussion. The link to sign up is: ttps://share.hsforms.com/15bHBupdrTBugXxD9Y8Q_MQ3jo4z