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This Week’s Devotional Topic
READY, SET…GO
There were “wild fires” in our community recently. Winds of 40 miles per hour and higher were pushing the destruction through our cities like a wall of flames. In order to update the thousands of residents in our region as to the status, they used terms and a map showing the various levels of readiness for evacuation. The white or Green areas were referred to as LEVEL 1 – “READY”. This instructed all residents within that area to be “Ready” for potential evacuation. Danger exists in the area. This is time for preparation and precautions.
A LEVEL 2, yellow area on the evacuation map means “BE SET” to evacuate. This means that there is significant danger and we should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
LEVEL 3 evacuation means that you need to LEAVE IMMEDIATELY! Danger to your area is imminent. Do not delay leaving to gather any belongings.
As the fires were clearly headed our direction, just a few miles away, and we were in Level 2, we were getting ready. My wife and I went through the house collecting things that were important to us, many that were irreplaceable. Photo albums and medications for myself and my elderly father were among the first to go into the car. Those moments and choices were extremely difficult for me. Our time was limited, what should I take? This process for me was painful. What should I take and why and what am I willing to leave behind, not knowing if it would be in ashes when we returned home? Folks, I’m here to tell you this experience was a real ‘gut check’ for me. Spiritually, we should keep ‘short accounts’ with God. We do not know what the next heartbeat will bring. AND when it comes to “stuff”, it’s all “wood, hay and stubble”. Yes, it is ALL just wood, hay and stubble. Please take just a moment to think about that. When faced by the same choices, what would you take and what would you leave and why?
The devastation in our region and state was unimaginable. In just a few hours, thousands became homeless. Homes they left earlier were now just a pile of ashes. And many died. Lives were changed forever by something they could not control.
Please consider now how you will apply this concept of “Ready, Set…Go”.
We should ALWAYS be at Level 1, be READY.
I Peter 3:15 “…sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear…”
And Christ urged the Disciples to be ready for His return.
Luke 12:40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
A prophet told Paul that he would be bound by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem and turned over to the Gentiles. The local believers begged him not to go.
Acts 21:13 But he said, “Why all this weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”
I sincerely hope and pray that we all are “Set” at level 2. That we are ready, prepared for whatever God will allow and has planned for us. And so prepared that we are “Set” to “Go” possibly with little or no notice. His Spirit will lead and guide when the time comes. And there will be many times in our lives when we will need to go.
The great commission:
Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
II Corinthians 6:14,17 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you…”
And we will “Go” to our ultimate future, in heaven. All who have become Christians, in the fulness of time, will go to see Christ and be with Him forever. True joy and His peace are yours as you have that confidence.
This week’s Scripture:
I Peter 3:15; Luke 12:40; Acts 21:13; Matthew 28:18-20 and II Corinthians 6:14,17
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