Are You Ready.....

During this advent season, we've been focusing on "Preparing the Way for Jesus."  That's a little different--or a LOT different than what it typically means to get ready for Christmas in our culture.  So are you ready.... are you ready for Jesus to come--if today was the day would you be ready to hear Jesus say, "Well done good and faithful servant.  Enter the joy of your Master's kingdom!" That's a big question isn't it?  I remember hearing a preacher say, "Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to get ont he bus today!"  When I think of the tension between being here and being there, I always think of the Apostle Paul who said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  What an attitude!  No wonder he led so many to the Lord, started so many churches, and saw the Gospel become real in so many unreached places.

For many Christians today, heaven may seem like a secondary reality, but heaven is our home.  I don't say that in a morbid way, but in that same way that Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  So many times we worry about our security and safety.  The reality is there is one security--Jesus, and the only safety is found in him.  May we truly live in such a way as to be ready... to His glory and to our gain.  As we live like that, we'll be "magnetic," we'll draw others to Jesus, because everyone understands the authenticity of a life that is anchored in heaven, and lived well here on earth!