Will you be Ready???

As I sat here thinking on what to write today all that came to my mind was "Be Ready!"

I don't know about you but I like to be ready for any trip that I go on. I find myself making lists of things that I need to do. The night before I check this list not once but several times the night before. I leave everything together at the door so I can grab it with ease the next morning. I want to be ready.

This should be like our life. Many people try to avoid the thoughts of them passing on and meeting Jesus.

Matthew 24:24
Therefore you also must be ready, for in an hour when you least expect, the Son of Man is coming.

We need to be ready because we will all have that day where we are held accountable for our lives here on earth. It is our job to be ready. 

In the last few weeks I have had to say goodbye to a couple of men in my life. These men where not just ordinary men but were men of God. They had worked hard to prepare for the day when Jesus came knocking on thier door. When they would finally see Jesus face to face. These men where great mentors to me growing up. They loved people and more importantly they loved God. God reflected through both of these men. If anything I learned how important it is for us to be ready.
I know that without a doubt both of these men are finally reeping thier rewards in heaven. They worked for the day where they would see Jesus face to face.

When I think of both of these men. I am reminded how important that we leave nothing undone. That we live a life that is kind, generous and truthful and honorable to God. I am reminded that forgiveness is also a great value. I am reminded that I need to live a life that is pleasing to God and is an example of those around me.

Hebrews 9: 27 tells us that it is appointed for man to die once, and after this judgment.

If God were to come for me today would I be embarrassed of my life or would I stand before him and hear "Well done good and faithful servant."

Mathew 25:13 tells us to keep watch for we do not know the day nor the hour of which he comes. We need to be ready for our meeting with him.

My point here has nothing to do with "If God returns" but "When God returns."

God has given us a list to follow. The list is the Bible. We need to read it and check it daily. Just like those lists that I mentioned earlier. We need to check his list several times to make sure that we are ready.

He will return for us at any given moment and when he does the question is...

Will we be ready?

Your First Love

 

Do you remember your first love? 

How did it make you feel when you looked in each other's eyes? Maybe you remember the sparks when you held hands for the first time. 

I remember my first love. I was maybe 16. He was the one. The man of my dreams. We were going to be together forever and ever. It is funny how we think. I wanted the very best and I only wanted it with him. There is not a time that we were apart I did not think of him. He was my life. This is not the first love that I am referring to here. I am talking about the first love between you and God.

Can you remember the first time you came to God?  

Do you remember when you gave your life to God? 

Do you remember that feeling?

I was a teenager when I accepted God. I had been raised in church for a very long time. Since birth to be exact. My parents stopped going to church, although they stopped we had a number one rule in our home. The rule was simple, All kids belonged in church. We would get up early Sunday morning and the Sunday School bus would pick us up. We attended church faithfully every Sunday.

I grew up playing the game and living the life that my parents and others expected of me. I believed in God. I knew of him and I could tell you pretty much any story that was in the bible. I sang in the choir, worked in the Sunday school classes. I helped out on the Sunday school bus picking up other kids. I lived a good life and did not really do anything wrong. There was one thing missing… I talked the talk.. But was not walking the walk.

I remember going to a youth convention and I do not remember much about the convention, however I do have one memory of that convention. The last night the speaker spoke on God's love. He said that, "God loved me. Not only did he love me but he was crazy about me and he wanted me to come to him. He don’t care about my past. He did not care about who or what I was or was not. He loves me regardless. I remember him calling us up to the front and I pretty much ran to that alter. I had no idea what was going to happen or what to expect. All I knew was I wanted more. I wanted to be totally committed to God. From that moment my life changed. I could not get enough of him. I took every opportunity to tell others what he did for me that weekend. God was all I ever thought about. I wanted everyone to see his light shine through me. I wanted them to have it too.
    As time went by, I remember I started to walk away slowly, I allowed things that had happened to me and people and the world effect me and my decisions. Step by step I began to walk away from God and slowly I lost my first love.  In time that love for God had taken a back seat to other things of importance at that time. I became unhappy in my every day life. I started to look up to people for my happiness and not God.

Revelations 2:4
"But I have this against you: You have left the love you had in the beginning.

    Maybe you are at this point in life. Maybe you are not even aware that you are doing it. It shows on everything you do. Maybe you are not happy with your every day life. Maybe it is your relationships, your job or your service to God. God wants us to get back to our first love. He loves us and he wants the very best for us. God is calling us back to our first love. He wants us to find happiness in him and not other people or the things around us. There is nothing in this world that can fill that void we feel but Jesus. God created us to praise him and we need fellowship with him in order to survive. Filling our lives with the things we think make us happy, changing jobs or even surrounding ourselves with people we think make us happy, is not the answer. This only fills us for a short time then we become unhappy again. We become discontented because these things will not ever bring us totally happiness. People are human, they make mistakes and they will let us down. Even the ideal job can fail us, no job lasts forever these days. We become bored of the toys and novelties in life. This is why we should never seek these things for our happiness. Our happiness is only found in Jesus. He fills us with everything we ever need. He is the creator of us. Who better to know what our needs and wants are in life. He wants us to go back to our first love. When we return to our first love it is only then that we will live a life of happiness and contentment.