ARE YOU READY

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

Matthew 24:44
King James Version

Jesus can come back any minute to take us to Heaven and God can call us to Heaven and minute. Are you ready to meet Jesus if He should come back today? We can be saved, go to church, sing in the choir, teach Sunday school and do kind things. However, if we have allowed unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, jealousy, hatred and sarcasm to remain in our heart we are not 

ready.

We need to have our heart right before God before we ask Him for anything. How dare you and I ask God to forgive us if we aren't willing to forgive those who hurt us. We read in the Bible. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matthew 5:23,24).

Before I invited Jesus in my heart to be my personal Saviour on August 14, 1980, I was a hateful person. I didn't like anybody, especially myself. I couldn't look in the mirror because I didn't like what I saw. I was disrespectful to my parents and because of all the abuse I had suffered, I thought I had a right to hate people.

One day, God took me out to His woodshed and applied His correction to my heart. He reminded me that I was not perfect, that I had hurt people just as they had hurt me. I will never forget that day and I realized that I had no right to judge and condemn anybody. One of my pastors said many times in his sermons "If you will make sure your own heart is right before God, you won't have the time to judge anybody". The pastor was so right because it is a full time job to make sure that my heart is right before God, that I don't allow bitterness and unforgiveness to remain in my heart.

If Jesus comes back for us today, are you ready to meet Him or will you have to look away? Rev. Elisha A. Hoffman wrote the hymn that should make every person search his or her heart "Is Thy Heart Right With God?" "Have thy affections been nailed to the cross? Is thy heart right with God? Dost thou count all things for Jesus but loss? Is thy heart right

with God?"

Heavenly Father, I'm sorry for the times when I have hurt You. Please forgive me. Help me to keep my big mouth shut when I'm tempted t say something to hurt people because they have hurt me. Thank You for loving me when I was so unlovely. I love You, dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for all You have done for me. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Joanne Lowe
April 30, 2020