Armies call being prepared “a state of readiness.” Here’s our checklist.
My dictionary gives the following meaning of “ready”: “in a suitable state for an activity, action or situation; fully prepared.” When I was a little fellow playing Hide and Seek in the fading light between supper and bedtime, I couldn’t have given you the exact definition of the word, but I knew just what it meant when the person counting to one hundred called out, “Ready or not, you must be caught; hiding around the goal’s ‘it’.”
A few Greek words translate as “ready” in the NT, but the meanings are similar enough to use them together in a non-technical article like this. I simply want to remind us of the call raised frequently to be ready to respond to our Commander’s orders at a moment’s notice.
1. Ready to give: Paul enjoined Timothy and Titus to regularly remind the saints (including us, of course) to “be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate” (1 Tim. 6:18). And again: “Put them in mind…to be ready to every good work” (Titus 3:1). This would include keeping out of debt as much as possible, living within our means, having some provisions on hand, and being vigilant as we look for others who may have a need which we are able to meet.
2. Ready to respond: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). Obviously this requires that my hope for my children and me is something greater than our getting a good education so we can have a good career so we can enjoy a good lifestyle and have a good retirement. Otherwise who would ask me about my hope if it is identical to the generally accepted flight plan for earthbound sinners?
3. Ready to preach: “As much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also” (Rom. 1:15). This is really counting the cost! Rome was Nero country, the place where Paul knew he would likely give his life for the Lord. This is not holding a gospel meeting in the relative safety of our building each week; this is taking the news into the enemy’s stronghold.
4. Ready to be offered: Remember the motto of the China Inland Mission: an ox with a yoke and an altar, and the words “Ready for either.” That seems a long way from where I live, but not so far from the lives of our brothers and sisters around the world. Life or death (Php. 1:20), full or hungry (4:12), “By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report” (2 Cor. 6:8), Paul’s only objective was that God be glorified in him. This was Paul living out Romans 12:1 and 2.
5. Ready to leave: Here are the words of the Lord: “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Lk. 12:40). Pietism, so-called, has fallen on hard times. The accusation is made that such a belief in separation from the world and anticipation of the Lord’s any-moment return makes one of no earthly good. Church history tells another story. Does being ready mean idly waiting? By no means! “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (v. 43). Work like there’s no tomorrow, because that may be true.
6. Ready to be wed: When the way is hard and the burdens are heavy and the sky seems leaden and dark, spend some time looking through your trousseau. The day is soon coming when the true Hallelujah Chorus will be sung (Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6). “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (v. 7).