Are You Ready?
What if the biggest thing standing between you and God's purpose isn't a lack of faith, but a life filled with distractions?
God has divine appointments for you.
There are people you will meet, conversations you will have, and moments when something rises in your heart and you realize, I need to say something. I need to encourage this person. I need to pray for them. I need to help.
The question is: Will you be ready when the moment comes?
Being ready isn't necessarily about becoming better at hearing God speak in perfectly formed sentences. I don't spend my life trying to get God to give me a detailed set of instructions for every decision I make. I would rather live in a place of inward peace—full of faith, hope, expectation, and love—and trust that as I walk with Him, He is leading me.
When you're inwardly free from distraction, you can become sensitive to what God is doing around you.
You might feel prompted to go somewhere, call someone, encourage your spouse, speak to a server, pray for someone, give something away, or simply say the thing that's already in your heart.
Those moments may seem small, but you don't know what God can do through one moment of obedience.
What's Distracting You?
Hebrews 12 tells us:
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith...”
—Hebrews 12:1–2 KJV
Notice that Scripture distinguishes between weights and sin.
Not everything distracting you is necessarily sinful. Some things are simply weighing you down.
It might be your finances. Your health. Something happening at home. A relationship. An unresolved emotional issue. Fear. Shame. Exhaustion. Or it may be a sin that continues to entangle you.
Whatever it is, ask yourself:
What is taking me out of the game?
What is consuming so much of my emotional energy that I'm not present anymore? What keeps me so preoccupied with myself that I don't notice the person God has put right in front of me?
Identify it.
Then ask the harder question:
What am I going to do about it?
Don't Just Hear the Truth—Make a Plan
I don't want us to simply hear good sermons. I don't want us to know a lot of truth and never actually change.
If something continually keeps you stuck, develop a plan.
If you need counseling, get counseling. If your finances are constantly creating chaos, learn how to manage your finances. If you're trapped in destructive patterns of thinking, renew your mind. If you're struggling with a particular sin, get Scripture specifically related to that area and begin seeing yourself through the finished work of Christ.
Talk to somebody you trust. Pray with somebody. Read something. Get help.
Do something. Take a step.
You may have tried 97 times already. Try again—but this time don't approach the problem from condemnation. Approach it from your identity in Christ.
You aren't trying to change so God will accept you.
You are changing because He already has.
You Are God's Workmanship
Ephesians 2:8–10 says:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
—Ephesians 2:8–10 KJV
You are God's workmanship.
Your righteousness isn't the product of your perfect behavior. God did something in you through Christ. You have been recreated in Him.
But notice what follows salvation by grace: good works.
We aren't saved by good works. We are recreated for good works.
Grace shouldn't make us passive. Knowing that we are completely free from condemnation should make us some of the most productive, courageous, loving people on the planet.
God has made doing good our way of life.
You Don't Have to Be Paralyzed by Every Decision
Sometimes Christians become so concerned about finding God's exact will that they become afraid to do anything.
Is this God's will?
Am I hearing Him correctly?
What if I make the wrong decision?
There are certainly moments when God leads us toward something very specific. But you don't have to live terrified that one wrong turn will take you outside His ability to lead you.
God is incredibly creative.
You may do something differently than I would do it. Someone else may approach the same opportunity another way. Yet God can work through all of us.
You get to be you.
The bigger question is: What condition is your heart in while you're making the decision?
Are you walking in peace?
Are you full of hope?
Are you expecting God's goodness?
Are you motivated by love?
Do you have a clear conscience before Him?
If so, make a decision and move forward.
A Clear Conscience Is Invaluable
Peter writes:
“But 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:
Having a good conscience...”
—1 Peter 3:15–16 KJV
There it is again:
Be ready.
A clear conscience before God is invaluable because shame makes us pull away from Him.
Sin does not undo what Christ accomplished or suddenly detach a believer from Christ, but sin can affect our confidence. Shame can make us withdraw emotionally. We hide internally just like Adam hid among the trees.
That's one reason we don't want sin dominating our lives.
Not because we're desperately trying to keep God happy with us.
Christ already dealt with condemnation at the cross.
We want freedom because we have a God to represent.
We want enough inward peace that when God gives us an opportunity to love somebody, encourage somebody, forgive somebody, pray for somebody, or share the gospel, we're available.
Look at Jesus
So how do we change?
Hebrews gives us the answer:
“Looking unto Jesus.”
And then:
“Consider him...”
Again and again, transformation comes back to seeing Him.
The areas where we're still struggling are often the areas where we don't yet see God clearly. As we see Him rightly, we are transformed into His image.
That's why the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus are so central.
Look at the cross and see what God thinks about you.
Look at Jesus and see God's character.
See His mercy.
See His righteousness.
See His forgiveness.
See His love.
See what He has made you through His finished work.
Then begin seeing yourself accordingly.
You don't overcome sin by obsessing over sin. You overcome by renewing your mind, putting on the new man, and learning to see yourself through what Christ has accomplished.
Grace teaches us to live godly lives.
The World Needs to See What God Is Like
There is a world around us that does not know how good God is.
Many people have been taught that every tragedy, disease, injustice, and loss somehow represents God's mysterious plan for their lives.
Then Jesus comes along and shows us what God is actually like.
He goes about doing good.
He forgives.
He heals.
He shows mercy.
He restores.
He delivers people from bondage.
He sets people free from condemnation.
And ultimately, He gives Himself for us.
Now we're His representatives.
Sometimes one of the most powerful things you can possibly do is simply become an agent of forgiveness. Someone hurts you, and instead of returning their offense, you become part of their healing.
That's Jesus.
Imagine a world filled with believers who were inwardly free enough to live that way.
Not perfect people.
Not people pretending they don't have problems.
People who know where to take their problems.
People who know who they are in Christ.
People with clear consciences, peaceful hearts, renewed minds, and enough confidence in God's love that they aren't constantly consumed with themselves.
Those people are ready.
So, Are You Ready?
What distraction do you need to minimize?
What sin continues to entangle you?
What unresolved issue keeps consuming your attention?
Identify it.
And then make a plan.
Get some Scriptures. Put them in the first person. Renew your mind. Talk to somebody. Get counseling if you need it. Ask for prayer. Make changes. Take responsibility for the things you actually can change.
But don't do any of it believing God is standing over you waiting to reject you.
He's with you.
He's for you.
He's going to encourage you, strengthen you, correct you, teach you, and walk with you.
You have the rest of your life in front of you.
Don't let it be consumed entirely by your job, your problems, your bills, your mistakes, or your distractions.
You have a God to represent.
There are people who need to know what He is actually like. There are divine appointments waiting in ordinary moments. There are people who need the hope, forgiveness, peace, and love that Christ has placed within you.
Eliminate the distractions.
Renew your mind.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
And when the opportunity comes—
be ready.
I can also make a shorter, sharper web version of this—around 800–1,000 words—with an article highlights section at the top, similar to the format we've used for your other sermon blogs.
