Putting Preparation In Perspective
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(28) Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. (29) He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (30) Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; (31) but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ (Isaiah 40:28-31)
In my e-mails to the folks who attend Monday Night Life!, I often emphasis the need to prepare. Often it may come across as ‘doom n’ gloom though I do not intend it to be so. I do feel strongly on the ‘BE PREPARED, BE AWARE, PLAN ACCORDINGLY’ mantra and that can focus on War, Famine, Pestilence and the occasional natural disaster that may fall upon us. (The property tax bill that came in recently may qualify as a ‘natural disaster’, in my humble opinion.)
We do need to be aware, prepared, and plan for these events. However, we also need to be aware, prepared, and plan for the good things that will also come our way. God’s Kingdom, grows over the course of time, and it will continue to grow. We also need to do our part in growing the Kingdom, to be aware of those around us who are lost without Christ, prepared to share with them the Gospel message, and have a plan ready to deliver the ‘warhead’ to the lost.
Our hope is not in our provisions that we’ve made, it is that we Hope in the Lord’s provisions (including that knowledge and foresight to be prepared physically, spiritually, and mentally) that He is there to catch us. Whether the provisions are for preparing for potential troubles or for witnessing and fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:8), I pray for the Lord’s hand to be upon those provisions to bless them and to assure me of their sufficiency. I pray that we have what we need to get through calamities and we have what we need to bring people in both Salvation and fellowship to Christ.
Is it somewhat disconcerting that weekly the altar calls often go unheeded? It is to a point, but then we have each month people come to join the church, and we hear that the Good News Club is attracting children to Christ. We continue to ask people like our restaurant servers if they need prayer; most may not give an answer except for ‘good health’, but that one who answers, ‘I have a need’ and they share something that is clearly dear to them; a family member is in the hospital with a critical illness, their home is damaged and they are living in a camper, or they are having a personal crisis; this is why we ask.
Being aware may mean to dig deeper, being prepared may mean to take actions that could be uncomfortable, planning may take time. All these can wear and tear upon us, but as the Lord says, He will renew our strength so we can ‘fight the good fight’, to run the race to completion. Be aware of the dangers but don’t be so focused on the ‘bad’ that we forget to also be aware and emphasize the ‘good’!
