The Ready State
My desire is that my life would be useful for God’s glory. I long for Him to assign me tasks that I might jump into and make a difference for His kingdom. This desire is all the result of the Holy Spirit working inside of me to change me, I know it is not the way I would think or act if left to my own devices.
In order to be useful for God’s purposes, I must have two qualities:
1) Willing
2) Ready
I have already written briefly on having a willing heart. This is the desire that is cultivated by spending time with God, gazing on His beauty, meditating on His goodness and all His faithful deeds. Today, my main focus is to write on the quality of being “ready” to serve God.
One of my favorite hobbies is fitness and weightlifting. I can spend many hours aside from the comparatively short time actually in the gym, reading on and watching videos on the latest research and trends in fitness. One of the physical therapists I follow calls his company “The Ready State.” His work in physical therapy is to keep people pain-free, to keep their joints strong, to keep their bodies in a “ready state” to jump into whatever activity an athlete would ask of it.
Think of an athlete with a desire to go on the field of play and perform, but with some injury that won’t allow them to participate. In the same way, we can sometimes find ourselves with a willing heart to follow God’s assignment, but our lives are not in a “ready state” to immediately obey. Just as an athlete must strengthen themselves, perform stretching, feed themselves properly, and get enough rest in order to have a healthy body that is ready to participate in the game, we must perform our own spiritual maintenance to be ready to participate in whatever God asks of us.
While I am certain this is not an exhaustive list, here are a few examples of areas I can think of that we need to keep maintained in a ready state:
• Schedule/Calendar
• Physical body
• Finances
• Spiritual longing
Schedule: if a friend in need calls you up, is there room built into your calendar to have the flexibility to be there to help and support?
Physical body: if your church is doing relief work to do construction on the home of families in need, cleaning up from a natural disaster, or standing on your feet to cook a meal for people facing hunger, have you maintained your physical health to the best of your ability to perform the task?
Finances: if God calls you to adopt a child, give to a worthy cause, or tithe to your church, is your budget in the proper state to respond immediately with a cheerful heart?
Spirit longing: When God asks you to do something is your spirit ready to say yes?
All of this is not to say that one person will be able to respond to any and every need. But God gives us life in order to serve Him. He also knows our God-given limitations and will only call us to that which He expects us to obey!
My hope for you is that you would come to recognize that you “are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:10
