How Do You Prepare To Meet God?
Good Morning Friends,
When we pray and when we worship, we call on the presence of God. But too often we are not ready to receive what comes next in interactions with others. Here we are on the first Sunday in Advent contemplating not only the first arrival of God in the flesh on earth, but also thinking about seeing Jesus in the lives of others as well as considering the second coming. The thing is that eventually we all will meet our maker. So, getting ready, one would think, is something any responsible believer would do. But the behavior of worshippers does not always support this conclusion, which prompts today’s question. How Do You Prepare To Meet God?
Scripture: For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name. Why, O Lord, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart, so that we do not fear you? Turn back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage. We have long been like those whom you do not rule, like those not called by your name. as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who works for those who wait for him. You meet those who gladly do right, those who remember you in your ways. But you were angry, and we sinned; because you hid yourself we transgressed. We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls on your name, or attempts to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.
Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7 (NRSV)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (NRSV)
Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”
Mark 13:33-37 (NRSV)
Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
Amos 4:12 (NRSV)
Message: We are in the season of Advent and preparations have already begun to celebrate the day the Word became flesh. We will celebrate because God is love and He so loved us that He sent His Beloved Son on a most difficult mission to save us from destruction. When Jesus was born very few people took any notice. The religious leaders who knew the prophecies concerning the place of His birth and were told the time of His birth made no effort to make the short journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see and worship Him. Herod showed more interest than they did even though his reason was to kill Him. The preparations being made this advent is sadly no different. For many people, there is no place in their hearts for Christ and their focus is not to worship Him but on buying, feasting and making merry. Preparing to meet God is something entirely different. The Jews had an elaborate process for entering the Holy of Holies. Thankfully now Jesus has made the process for communicating with God a bit easier, but in the process, we may have lost some steps. This Sunday we have a scheduled meeting with the Lord in worship on this first Advent Sunday in 2017. And I wonder how many are prepared not only for worship but the ultimate meeting. You see, if we really value our meeting time with the Lord we need to prepare for it. We need to know God. And we need to wake up to the opportunities before us to meet Jesus in the lives of those in need. For, of course, Christ is the best teacher and he teaches this is so. For, Christ came into the world to show us a better way of living that includes getting to know God and especially God’s grace through interaction in the world. For it is the grace of God working in us, changing us and enabling us to live the life of Christ that is the only way to prepare for meeting the Father. We really can do very little, for God does what we cannot do, but expects us to do what we can do. We cannot work for what the grace of God has freely made available to us, but it is our responsibility to work till we become like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that means that the best preparation is loving others in need. But we must stay awake for the meeting and marriage.
Pray we know God, not just things about God. Pray we know that God is loving, just and righteous. Pray we accept God’s grace and gifts of forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life. Pray we acknowledge that we are sinners who cannot do anything on our own merit to inherit eternal life. Pray we believe with all our hearts that Jesus paid the price for our soul’s redemption. Pray we show evidence of our conversion by telling others about Jesus Christ. Pray we have faith to believe the Word of God that gives us the assurance of salvation. Pray we realize that God’s love and grace provides all that we need to make us ready. Pray we prepare to meet God with praise. Pray we have a strong desire to meet God that is demonstrated by our preparation. Pray we are awake enough to see God in the lives of those we serve.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 