We
have an adult child who when summoned to get in the car waits until we are in our seats before moving. The reason is that one has learned when we say it’s
time to go, we’re not actually ready. There’s always going to be one or two or
five things we need to do before we get in the car. That doesn’t even count the
times we have to pull back in the driveway because we forgot something. That child has experience, and allows us to go through the process before appearing on the scene.
When it’s time to go, we’re not prepared. And our offspring knows it.
The
apostle Paul lays out in his writing to Timothy what Wycliffe calls a “solemn
charge.” He pens, “preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season;
correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction” (2
Timothy 4:2).
Also,
according to Wycliffe, these words were written from prison just before Paul
was executed. Calvin said that they were “written not with ink but with Paul’s
own blood.”
For
that reason, we are compelled to look at them closely.
There’s
so much to consider in these words, but today, the Lord has put the phrase “be
prepared in season and out of season” so much on my mind.
The
amplified versions renders it this way, “be ready when the time is right and
even when it is not [keep your sense of urgency, whether the opportunity seems
favorable or unfavorable whether convenient or inconvenient, whether welcome or
unwelcome].
I
recently spoke with someone who had seen God move in a mighty way in his
ministry, but things had not continued in the same way. He said, “You know how
it is. We can grow complacent.”
He’s
so right. Complacency is the enemy of what God wants to do in us and through
us. The urgency drains out of us, and we settle for comfort. And yet God calls
us forward. And being ready has much to do with being willing. Willing to go
forward, willing to do the uncomfortable, willing to be inconvenienced, and willing
to press ahead when the odds don’t look great in our favor. But aren’t we glad
we don’t operate according to the odds?
Being
ready also has to do with being prepared. We never know what opportunity God
may bring our way, and often when it presents itself it’s already too late to prepare.
Either you are or you aren’t. As in the example I began with, we often just
aren’t ready.
But,
when I go to writer’s conferences, I make sure that if I’m pitching a book, it
is ready to go. If an editor asks to look at the proposal or manuscript, the
more time that elapses between my meeting with an editor and my submission, the
more likely he or she will completely forget who I am and what my project is. It
makes a difference if I can get it off right away.
In
the spiritual realm, the way we prepare is we study to show ourselves approved
(2 Timothy 2:15), we pray without
ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), and we
are open to what God is saying to us (Jeremiah 33:3).
I
hope in the spiritual realm we are more prepared here than we are when it comes
to turning off coffee makers or making sure the dog has water before we leave.
I hope when it really counts, we are ready to go.
I
know you hope for that readiness, too. In season and out.