Are You Ready?

The title question, “Are you ready?” is often asked in reference to time. Of course, it could also be a question about one’s preparation, and that’s what I want you to think about.

The question, “Are you ready?” is to ask, “Are you fully equipped?” Even then, ambiguity remains, “Fully equipped for what?”

We go to school (or are home schooled) and that is supposed to prepare us...for something. Some high school grads go to trade school, while others go to college. Those are also supposed to prepare us...for something. The work place, from blue collar to white collar, is filled with every kind of training opportunity.

All of that tells us that we put quite a lot of time and energy and money into training. But for what purpose?

We might think of resumes, job interviews and work references as part of the process for finding out how well equipped a person is for a job.

Parents provide training that spans areas such as language and communication, good manners, personal hygiene, moral behavior, getting along with others, how to thrive in one’s surroundings (home, neighborhood, town, world). Additional training might include personal organization and planning, finances, yard/car/house maintenance, long-term planning, gardening, animal/pet care, and the list goes on. That training partly equips us for life on earth.

Have you ever thought about God’s training?

2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NASB95)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Scripture is beneficial in getting you ready! Specifically, it is beneficial in fully equipping you “for every good work.”

High school is inadequate; college is inadequate; trade school is inadequate. Even the best parents are inadequate. All of the training designed and carried out by people is inadequate to fully equip a person “for every good work.”

It is not that educational institutions or parents or anyone else has failed. Rather, it is God’s intention to prepare people for something different than our usual focus. Our training programs focus on what we (humans) think is important. God has focused on what He knows is important because He designed us. In fact…

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

—Ephesians 2:10 (NASB95)

God did not create us for building cars, entertainment, forestry, accounting, selling furniture, cooking, managing a business, archaeology, or a world full of other areas of work. He created us for good works. His revealed word, Scripture, is capable of making us “adequate, equipped for every good work.”

God is not a big fan of the separation of church and state. He expects us to take our Christianity into our homes, into our places of work, into our schools, into stores and entertainment venues. His expectation is that we walk in good works every day in every place.

We often misunderstand God’s will because our focus is on ourselves, our jobs, our ideas of what is important. So, let’s realign our focus and embrace God's training. And then, let's get out there and walk in good works.

Mark Stinnett

September 10, 2023