Are You Ready?

Getting Ready for the Olympics

This past week as we watched the Olympics we saw athletes from every nation coming together to compete.  For me, one thing stands out: these individuals have gone to great lengths to prepare for this moment. They have trained relentlessly, worked tirelessly & weighed every choice leading up to these games so that in every way they would be ready.

So many great stories come out of the Olympics. One of my favorite stories has been the story of Katie Ledecky.

Katie Ledecky is 19 years old. She’s won 4 gold medals in the Rio Olympics. I don’t know if you saw it, but watching her swim is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball against a middle schooler. It almost seems unfair. If you saw her swim the 800 meter freestyle, then you saw her beat her competition by 11 seconds! She blew away the competition.

It made me wonder… how does she do that? What makes her different? And how did she prepare in such a way that she was so incredibly ready to dominate in such a convincing way in these Olympics?

So I did a little research & I found an interview with Katie where she talks about her daily schedule. Listen to how Katie Ledecky prepares every day to be ready to swim in competition & in these Olympics… (from EPSN.com)

Her normal weekly schedule includes six days of swim practice and three days of dryland workouts.

4:05 AM Wake up, then eat a healthy breakfast so her dad can drive her to practice. (She hasn’t had time to get her drivers license yet.)

5AM Practice in the pool – her usual morning load is 6,000 to 6,500 yards.

8AM Go home & take a nap.

11AM Goes to dry land practice (3 days a week).

12:30 Healthy lunch.

1PM Another Nap.

3:30-6PM Second Practice in the pool, 7000-8000 yards of swimming.

6:30 Dinner.

9:30 Bed time.

That’s about 14,000 yards of swimming every day, not counting the dry land workouts she does 3 times a week!

Anyone else just tired thinking about that?

In order to be ready for the Olympics, Katie Ledecky dedicated an enormous amount of time to preparation.

But here’s the thing, she didn’t get ready over night. She wasn’t able to swim that fast overnight. But her preparation & dedication over time resulted in her readiness.

[Tweet ” Preparation & dedication over time results in readiness. #kingdomofheaven”]

Have you ever been in a situation where it was painfully obvious you weren’t ready?

The teacher passes out the test & you didn’t study.

Your boss asks you for a report on the project you were supposed to be working on, but you don’t have it.

You wake up & your wife says, “Happy Anniversary!” and hands you a gift. You smile & say something like, “Your gift should come in the mail today!” That’s a lie! You forgot, you weren’t ready!

We’ve all been there! It’s happened. We came to the moment & for whatever reason we were completely unprepared.

There’s a sense in which we realize at a young age what it means to be ready.

We all played the game Hide & Seek as kids. Do you remember what you say when you’re the one counting with your eyes closed? READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!

Those who are prepared & hide well normally win the game. Those who are still running around looking for a good spot are unprepared & are normally the first to loose!

What Jesus said about being ready.

So Jesus once told this story about what it means to be ready. And I think it’s a really important story for us to hear today. Here’s WHY I think it’s so important.

This is a message for insiders… for Christians who are awaiting the return of our King, the Christ. In Matthew 24.3, Jesus of Nazareth sits down with his disciples, his closest followers, & begins talking to them, just them, about what will happen at the end of time.  So Jesus, talking to insiders, talking to His disciples, tells this story…

Matthew 25.1-13

1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, 4 but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. 5 When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight they were roused by the shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is coming! Come out and meet him!’

7 “All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. 8 Then the five foolish ones asked the others, ‘Please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.’

9 “But the others replied, ‘We don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. 11 Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside, calling, ‘Lord! Lord! Open the door for us!’

12 “But he called back, ‘Believe me, I don’t know you!’

13 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return.

So here’s the question I think Jesus was putting before his disciples then & that he puts before you today… Are you ready?

If you’re a spectator at the Olympics, all you need to do to be ready to see the games is buy your ticket. You may need to work out travel & hotel, but that’s it. You’re all set. You’re ready to go.

But if you’re an athlete competing in the games, there’s so much more. You’re working hard every day. Training. Exercising. Eating right. You are preparing.

Now what about your Christianity? What about your faith? What’s amazing it that so many of us will probably show up in front of Jesus when He returns & the truth is, we won’t be ready. The reason we won’t be ready is that we’ve treated our Christian faith more like a spectator sport than as an athlete who’s training. We’ve essentially rested in the fact that we “got our ticket.” And so consequently we never “prepared” for the moment when Jesus comes again.

If we’re not careful, it’s easy to loose our focus as Christians. It’s easy to forget who we’re called to be & what we’re called to do. So Jesus reminds us & warns us just as he did his first followers to be ready, be prepared, because one day He will come again.

Are you ready?

I’ve talked to so many people, good Christian people, who are unsure of their salvation. Over the years I’ve come to understand that the basis for their entire feeling of doubt about their salvation is based on how they feel about their performance. It’s based on how they feel about themselves & not on what they believe to be true about God.

But Jesus paints a different picture of Heaven.  And it’s not a picture where you ever have to have any doubt. It’s a picture of being prepared. And what does it mean to be prepared? What does it mean to have “oil for your lamps?”  “To be wise?”  Over & over again, Jesus has been teaching us through his parables what it means to be ready.

For Jesus, being ready is…

… living life according to God’s economy, treating each other as people who share God’s identity & participating in making things on Earth as they are in Heaven.

So if you want to be ready, then you need to be wise. To be wise, you need to pay attention to who God is calling you to be & what God is calling you to do. When you do, then you’re ready. You’re ready. And you stay ready. You keep doing & being what God is calling you to do & who God is calling you to be.

It’s routine for you. It’s no different than Katie Ledecky getting up everyday at 4AM & swimming some 14,000 yards a day. Everyday you’re living your life according to God’s economy, you’re treating each other as people who share God’s identity & you’re doing everything within your power to make things on Earth as they are in Heaven.

So: PREPARE every day, Be READY any time.

[Tweet “PREPARE every day, Be READY any time for the Kingdom of Heaven. #kingdomofheaven”]

When you do this, you have oil in your lamps. When the voice comes in the night that the bridegroom is on the way, that Jesus is returning, you’ll be ready. You’ll be ready because you were wise.

When you actively participate in bringing Heaven to Earth in the present, you’ll be ready when Jesus brings Heaven to Earth in the future.