Live Ready – Jesus Commands It

Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;  and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. (Luke 12:36, 37)

In those times servants would tuck in their robes so that could get on with the job. They might have to work at night – so they needed their lamps to burn so they could see what they were doing.

We need to be ready for service.

Jesus is commanding us to be ready.

At this late hour in world history, there is really no time to lose. It is not safe for our souls.

We are commanded by Jesus to be like men who WAIT for their master. We are commanded to wait upon God. We have to adopt a waiting posture. We need to be ready to do what Jesus says the moment He turns up and speaks.

This is not just about the Second Coming. This is about your daily life. Jesus could visit you at any time. Maybe He does and you are too blind or preoccupied to see Him. So you totally miss what God has for you.

Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching.

Waiting. Watching. There is Hebrew parallelism here. You wait by watching. Watching means staying alert spiritually AND physically. It involves denying yourself sleep you would otherwise enjoy. It means sitting before the presence of the Lord.

We must have our lamps burning. Lamps burn with oil. The oil is the Holy Spirit. We must always have an adequate supply of the oil of the Holy Spirit. We should FEEL the burning and heat of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to do what it takes to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and stay connected (see this website for more details). There should be light coming from our spirits, burning with the Holy Spirit’s energy, illuminating our path and our faces. “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all the inner depths of his heart [where pride and self-will still lurks]” (Proverbs 20:27). “He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him” (1 Corinthians 6:17).

I’m not saying never do anything for recreation. But don’t give yourself to recreation to the extent that you are not ready to minister to the Lord, to come into His presence, to tune in and minister to Him or for Him. There is a GREAT danger today to be so occupied with our phones, laptops and computers in “fun” stuff, or “social” stuff that we miss JESUS and become dull of hearing. Maybe drop all recreation UNTIL you can tune in. What is more important? Are we loving the Lord? Are we making Him jealous or sad? Are we really waiting for Him, longing for His appearing?

 Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning;  and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. (Luke 12:36, 37)

One Level of Reward and Three Levels of Punishment

 Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?”

And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? (Luke 12:41, 42)

Jesus doesn’t answer the question directly, but the fact that it IS in the Bible (when so many other beautiful things the Lord did and said are NOT) means that it IS for us – any servant of God, any steward? What Jesus is saying I believe is this: if you wait before the Lord, if you watch, if you deny yourself sleep and longingly desire the visitation of the Lord as you sit in His presence – then He will give you a ministry of providing spiritual food to others. And verse 43 tells us there will be an infathomably great reward for doing this faithfully over the long haul. God will make you ruler over all He has (!?) (v 43).

And failing to wait and watch and have oil and be ready (which is what Jesus just told us to do) might result in one of the terrible punishments (coming in different degrees according to the level of disobedience to this word) that are mentioned in Luke 12:44-48.

The blatantly rebellious will be executed and sent to hell.

The ones who knew to do God’s will and neglected it will be beaten with many lashes.  (Luke 12:47)

The ones who didn’t know – were ignorant – and didn’t  do the Master’s will – and so ended up doing things worthy of punishment –  shall be beaten with few lashes (Luke 12:48).

I would rather go for the option of waiting before God, being filled with the warmth and light of the Holy Spirit. How about you?

Let us pray for one another according to Colossians 1:9-11. I covet your prayers also.

Michael Fackerell