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249. Be Dressed and Ready

Key Verse: "It would be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if He comes in the second or third watch of the night."
Luke 12:38

Now we will begin a series of teachings by Jesus that admonish us to be vigilant in our walk with Him. Not only is He watching, He expects us to be watching as well, watching ourselves so that we are prepared. He will be coming for us, at any moment and we need to be ready to receive Him. This too is a warning of love.

Jesus’ warning here reminds me of two modern day examples. The first would be of a baby sitter. The parents are out for the evening. The baby sitter has been entrusted with the task of feeding the children and putting them to bed. Woe to that baby sitter if the parents come home at midnight to find their children still up and unattended. A baby sitter is entrusted with the authority of the parent while he, she, or they are absent. They are expected to make the house run as smoothly as possible. You will be called upon again if you do the job well. You are not hired to talk on the phone, watch movies or raid the fridge. You may be able to benefit from these things, but the primary reason for your presence is to care for the children and the household until the parents return.

The other example that comes to mind is the soldier on deployment. He or she may be off duty from patrol, but they are always vigilant for their own sake and the safety of others. The soldier never knows when the enemy will attack, or from which direction an attack will come. Also, often they are not informed much in advance of troop movement, for the sake of safety, but when the command comes to "move out," they need to be ready to go. The soldier knows that as long as he wears the uniform, on duty or off, he is in a position of responsibility.

It is easy to see, from the examples listed above, that there is blessing and reward for vigilance. Jesus assures His disciples that it will be the same for them and us if we never let our guard down so that we won't be caught napping when the Master comes home.

We need to be on guard not only for His return, but we also need to recognize that we are in a war. Peter, one of the disciples listening to Jesus on that evening wrote later, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering." (1 Peter 5:8-9) James says simply, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7B) It's much harder to resist, or stand firm, if you are caught off guard because you were distracted by other, less important matters.

So how do we live this out? By knowing our orders. How do we learn our orders? By studying the command book and by staying in communication with the commander and by remembering that we are not the authority, but have been entrusted by the authority to do our duty. Also, we need to remember that we are not "an army of one." We are part of a body, the Bride of Christ. Lone ranger Christians can be a danger to themselves and others if they do not stay in communication with those around them. Imagine a soldier on the front line of battle, listening to his MP3 player with his headphones. Would you want to stand next to him? No! We need to stay alert and ready in all situations. In the end, it will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching, even if He returns in the middle of the night; "In the twinkling of an eye."


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