Stay ready to keep from getting' ready for quittin' time

READY FOR THE LORD'S RETURN

I remember reading a story Dr. Charles Swindoll told in a book called Rise and Shine some years ago. Chuck talked about a time when he was in school, working in a machine shop. He worked with an old-timer named Tex. Ol' Tex had a kind of invisible sensor down inside. He seldom had to look at the clock. He always knew when it was getting close to that last whistle. Without fail, Tex was all washed up and ready to punch out a couple of minutes before the whistle blew. On one occasion, Swindoll reminded him that it was about time to start getting ready for quittin' time, and he never forgot the man's reply. He told Chuck, "I stay ready to keep from getting' ready for quittin' time."

I like that. How do you prepare for the Lord's return? You stay ready to keep from getting ready. Because if you do stay ready, you never have to scramble around to get ready, do you? And that's the impact the thought of the Lord's return ought to have on us. Because He may return at any time, we should live our lives as the book of Titus tells us -- in a godly righteous way, so that we might always be ready.

-- David Jeremiah in Jesus' Final Warning