Matthew 24:36-44 36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. 42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
I’m curious about odd stuff I suppose. I wonder about things, social norms, things we do just because we’ve always just done them that way. This scripture makes me wonder about another one of those things. Who thought up, who invented the way we started all races as kids? Who came up with “Ready, Set, Go!”? The thing is it’s not just for young kids though.
Go to any track meet and what is the starter’s call? “Runners to you mark, Set” (and here is where they hold you in the “set” position for what seems like an eternity) and then they fire the gun. Now I know there are probably a million other examples of this three-tiered system to prepare us to do something but I’m going to leave that up to you. The point is that we’re almost always given advance notice of when something’s going to happen (Hello, “Save the date” people!) except here.
Matthew says uh-uh people, not here. Like Dikembe Mutombo swatting away our attempts to throw away our paper, we are denied. We just have to be ready. We have to live like tomorrow, like today, like in ten minutes it’s all over. Pressure anyone? You bet, but a good kind and a good reason for the uncertainty.
Ask yourself, what would you do if you knew next Tuesday at six it was curtains? The end. Would you get all your ducks in order? Would you make sure you were reconciled with everyone? Sure, who wouldn’t? Thing is, God doesn’t want us living for the end, he wants us living for the now. He wants us “ready” at all times. He’s shooting to keep us in the “set” position like that gunman on the track for our entire lives!
So, you’re saying, “I can’t do that. That’s too much pressure. I can’t always live like it could be over at any moment.” Again, not the point He’s trying to make. A well-lived, right-with-God, life isn’t meant to be a burden. It is meant to be a way of life however, a way we live thing. Will it be tough sometimes? Sure. You ever know anything that was really worth it that didn’t challenge you at least once? It will be hard sometimes but the great thing is that if we come out of that “set” position the starter isn’t going to DQ (disqualify) us. He’ll do what no starter has ever done at a track meet, He’ll forgive us our lapse and say “Okay, no sweat, but get ready again. Get back in that set position again. I might fire this gun at any time.”
You have to be ready.
How are you getting ready every day? Have you taken your mark? More importantly, are you set? I’d like to know your thoughts on this whole idea of being ready, please feel free to comment below.
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