(Welcome to part 3 of my Looking to Advent series! You can read part 1 here and part 2 here.)
For Christmas one year, one of my girlfriends gave me this coffee mug with the words “Time to get ready” on it.
The accompanying pictures on the mug are makeup and lipstick, suggesting getting ready for the day, but the words were what mattered, because I had been in a season where God was prompting me with that message: “Get ready.” I didn’t really know what I was getting ready for, but I certainly felt like I was holding my breath in anticipation. It felt like waiting for Christmas morning as a child–brimming with excitement for something good ahead.
It’s hard to prepare when you don’t know exactly what you’re preparing for. When you travel, you pack your bags according to your destination. You don’t pack snowshoes for the beach, nor do you pack your snorkel for Alaska in December. If you’re heading to the British Isles, you know to pack your umbrella. But what if you don’t know where you’re going? How do you know what to pack?
James 4:7-8 issues this invitation: “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you.” (NIV) God is the master planner. He knows where He’s leading you and what you need to be equipped with in order to succeed. He wants to help you pack for success.
One evening, I was going through my son’s toy box to make sure everything was accounted for, like sets of blocks and his play toolbox. When I opened the toolbox, I found this:
I had a good chuckle, but it got me to thinking: is Jesus in my toolbox? Is He at the bottom, or at the top where I can easily find Him when I need help?
God won’t call us to something just so we will fail at it. We fail when we get ahead of His plan and don’t allow for time to complete preparations. When we submit to His way, He opens the doors at the right time, brings the right people and resources across our paths, and teaches us what we need to know for where we’re at. Our job is to submit to His leading and draw near to Him, pausing to spend time in His presence. When we are close to someone, we trust that they have our best interests at heart. Trusting God is no different.
Advent is a season with an invitation to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christ’s birth. It is our yearly reminder of how we should be living every day–with a heart of anticipation. We prepare our homes by putting up decorations. We prepare for gatherings by shopping for food and gifts. But how often do we fail to prepare ourselves? How do we fix this?
Hebrews 4:16 (NIV) says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” To keep Jesus in our toolbox, so to speak, we must make sure to intentionally place Him there. We must approach His throne, which we can do with confidence because Advent kicked off the story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. In His presence, we find mercy and grace which help us through our times of need. God’s mercy is not a shallow thing; it does not run out, but is more like waves that keep crashing on the shore. In His presence, we find peace knowing that He will prepare us for whatever is ahead.
We know He will help us, because He has promised to do so in Scripture. Next week, we’ll dive into some of the Promises in scripture.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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