Ready and Willing

We have been talking about being ready for the return of Christ in church on Sunday mornings. Pastor Kevin has spent nearly a month covering this topic from Matthew and this morning God put some pieces together in my head from a conversation with my husband, a lesson in Sunday school, and then the sermon. I love when mornings like this happen...

Kyle and I have been talking for a few days about the idea that if there is something material in our lives that we feel we "can't" get rid of, then the reality is that it owns us and is an idol--and steps must be taken to remove it from that place of ownership. This could apply to SO many things. As Kyle was telling me of his conviction in this area on our drive to church I realized that there are things in my life that I currently have the mindset that I "absolutely couldn't" get rid of. It is sadly something I feel would be difficult to remove or give up even if I felt huge conviction to pull it from my life. This was an eye opener--literally as we pulled in the church parking lot.

So that was on my mind as I went to Sunday school. Kyle and I love working in the youth group and hearing the youth pastor teach--especially when there are convicting sermons to keep me thinking. This morning's lesson was from Colossians 3 and he explained the putting off of the old clothing and taking on of the new to reveal the glory of God. There are so many things that need to be put off.

There are the sins against yourself:
Immorality
Impurity
Lusts/desires
Greed (idols)

...and then the sins against others:
anger
wrath
malice
slander
abusive speech
lying

Feel like any of those hit you? A couple hit me pretty hard.

Those are traits of the old life--the life before Christ. Instead of walking knowingly in those we are to put them off and put on instead the clothing and characteristics of the new life:
compassion
kindness
humility
gentleness
patience
caring/forgiving
love.

We have to let the word dwell in us so that it overflows. It seems impossible to deal with the overload of all this. To put off all the old and put on the new is only possible if I am abiding in Him daily. The more of His character I see and experience in relationship daily, the more HIS characteristics will become mine.

Ok. So let me summarize thus far. I have things in my life that I am so addicted to that getting rid of them would seem painful at first. That's bad. Not only is that bad, but that is part of the OLD clothing. Not only is that a problem, but so is another thing on the "old" list......in other words, I'm not perfect. I knew that, but let me now fit that in to the sermon series: Christ is coming back and I have to be ready. I am to daily be growing and seeking to follow Him more closely to be ready for the day when He does come back. These aren't issues to just realize and forget, they are to be changed and perfected so that I am exuding Him to others.

I wanna be ready for Him to come back. I wanna be willing to change and remove those things from my life that hinder me from full obedience and a life of no idols.

It's all part of preparing for when He comes back to take His bride home.

Make me ready, God. I am willing.
Sarah.