Be Ready Be Faithful

Be ready. That is what Jesus tells us. He has told us signs of the end times and His second coming because He wants us to be ready, and He reiterates it several times in Matthew 24:42, Matthew 24:44 and Matthew 25:13. We must be on the alert because we do not know when Jesus will come.

What does it mean to be ready? How can we be ready for the coming of Jesus? Matthew 25:1-13 says, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, saying, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. And later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” To be ready, Jesus tells us to prepare in advance. Let us not be deceived into thinking that we have a lot of time to prepare, that we don’t have to be ready today, and that we can still prepare when we get old and are about to die. Jesus can come anytime, and when that happens we must be ready to meet Him. The Bible also tells us that we cannot depend on others to do things for us. In the parable, the foolish virgins were depending on the wise virgins to provide oil. We cannot depend on others when it comes to our relationship with God. It is something that we should do on our own. Romans 8:9 tells us, “…But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” This is what it means to be ready – that we know for certain that our relationship with God is settled – that we have Jesus in our hearts.

Jesus gives us another story to teach us how to prepare ourselves in Matthew 25:14-30, “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. “Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.“In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. “But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. ’Therefore, take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The Bible tells us that we are stewards of everything God has entrusted us – our family, friends, time, money, skills, position, everything. And in the end, we will all be accountable for all the things God has entrusted in our care. We will all give an account of our life to the Lord. As in the parable, we will have two possibilities: either commendation or condemnation. For the two servants who were faithful, the master said to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” As for the third servant, his talent was taken away from him. He had a wrong idea about his master. He was lazy because in his mind the master is not good. He thinks that the master is not fair and is self-centered. Like this third servant, there are many people today who have wrong ideas about God, and so they say, “Well, I have Jesus already. It does not matter what I do. I am going to go to heaven already.” Let us not be deceived into this kind of thinking. Let us be faithful with the things the Lord has entrusted to us so that in the end we would hear the Lord tell us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Let us change our mindset. Be ready. Be faithful. Jesus can come today.

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