Ready and Waiting

Scripture: Luke 12:35–40

You too, be ready; 

because the Son of Man is coming 

at an hour that you do not think He will.

Luke 12:40

What does it mean to be ready for Christ? Jesus tells His disciples to be dressed for service and to keep their lamps burning. He pictures servants waiting through the night for their master to return from a wedding feast. They do not know when he will arrive, but they remain awake and ready to open the door. Michael Card reminds us that this watchfulness follows Jesus’ earlier words, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 12:32). Christian watchfulness is not anxious waiting but confident trust. We remain faithful because we know the One for whom we are waiting. “Let us be alert and sober,” Paul reminds us (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

Then comes the great surprise. When the master finds his servants faithfully waiting, he dresses himself for service, seats them at the table, and serves them (Luke 12:37). The master becomes the servant! This points us toward Jesus Himself. At the Last Supper, He knelt and washed His disciples’ feet (John 13:4–5), declaring, “I am among you as the one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Our service to Christ is therefore always a response to the One who first loved and served us.

Jesus then changes the picture from a returning master to a thief arriving unexpectedly. The message remains the same: Be ready. We do not know when Christ will return, but we know how He wants us to live while we wait. Being faithful and obedient means keeping our lamps burning—praying, loving, forgiving, encouraging, and serving wherever God has placed us. We do not need to fear the future, because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). May He find us faithfully doing His work whenever He comes.

Prayer: 

Heavenly Father, 

Keep our lamps burning and our hearts ready. Free us from fear and distraction, and help us faithfully serve You each day. May we live with joyful expectation, ready to welcome Christ whenever He comes. 

Amen.

Living for God’s Will

Reading — 1 Peter 4:1–11

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received

 to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace

 in its various forms.” 

1 Peter 4:10

The apostle Peter writes to believers who were facing hardship and opposition because of their faith. He reminds them that following Christ requires a new mindset shaped by the example of Jesus. “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude” (1 Peter 4:1). Lent invites us to reflect on this calling as we journey toward the cross. Discipleship means turning away from self-centered living and dedicating our lives to the will of God. Peter urges believers to leave behind the patterns of their former life and instead devote their remaining time to what truly matters—living in love, faithfulness, and service. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). In this way the Christian community becomes a place where compassion, hospitality, and encouragement reflect the grace of Christ.

Peter also reminds the church that service belongs to every believer. Each person has been entrusted with gifts—abilities, opportunities, and resources—that are meant to strengthen others. “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others” (1 Peter 4:10). Our talents are not merely personal achievements but expressions of God’s grace flowing through our lives. Whether through words of encouragement, acts of kindness, or practical help, believers are called to serve so that “in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11). Lent becomes a time to rediscover these gifts and offer them again to God in humble service.

A striking example of this calling can be seen in the life of Toyohiko Kagawa. Born in 1888 in Kobe, Japan, Kagawa was the son of a wealthy businessman but grew up largely separated from his father’s household. As a young student he encountered the Christian faith through missionary schools and eventually devoted his life to Christ. He later studied theology at Kobe Theological Seminary and continued his education at Princeton Theological Seminary. Yet instead of pursuing comfort or prestige, Kagawa chose a different path. He moved into the slums of Kobe and lived among the poor, working to improve labor conditions, establish cooperative movements, and bring hope to struggling communities. His life reminds us that Christian service can transform society as well as individuals. Like the believers Peter addressed, Kagawa used the gifts God had given him to become a faithful steward of grace.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Teach us to live not for ourselves but for Your will. Help us recognize the gifts You have placed in our lives and give us courage to use them in service to others. Fill our hearts with love, humility, and compassion so that our lives may bring hope to those around us and honor to Your name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Getting Ready by Staying Awake

Living alert to God’s presence

Scripture Reading: Luke 12:35–48

Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.

Luke 12:35

As we conclude our Advent series Getting Ready, Jesus calls His disciples to a posture of steady alertness. In Luke 12, watchfulness is not a sudden burst of spiritual intensity or anxious prediction about the future. It is a way of living—day by day, moment by moment—attentive to the Master’s presence. As Eugene Peterson reminds us, “Faith is not a sudden leap; it is a steady walk, day after day.” Advent trains us for this kind of faith: a quiet readiness that shapes ordinary life.

Jesus’ picture of staying awake looks very much like faithful attention in unseen hours. A nurse working the night shift serves while most of the world sleeps. There are no crowds, no praise, and little recognition. Yet attentiveness matters deeply—missing a small change in a patient’s condition can be life-altering. Staying awake is not excitement; it is faithfulness. In the same way, Luke 12’s servants remain ready through the long night, entrusted with responsibilities that matter even when no one seems to be watching. Staying awake, Jesus teaches, is less about dramatic moments and more about faithful attention in the ordinary hours.

The great surprise of Jesus’ teaching is not fear, but grace. The Master returns and, astonishingly, serves His servants (Luke 12:37). This is the heart of the gospel: the One we watch for is also the One who gives Himself for us. Staying awake means remaining open to grace—ready to receive Christ again and again. As we wait for Christmas, we keep our lamps burning and our hearts attentive, trusting that the Lord who once came in humility will come again in glory.

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

Teach us to walk faithfully with You, day after day. Clear our lives of distractions and keep us awake to Your presence. As we wait this Advent, help us to serve with joy and to live ready for Your return.

Amen.

Getting Ready for Restoration

“They will be called the Holy People, 

the Redeemed of the Lord;

 and you will be called Sought After.” 

Isaiah 62:12

This promise finds its fulfillment in Christ, where Isaiah’s vision becomes deeply personal. Many adoption stories echo Isaiah 62 powerfully. Children who spend years in foster care are often labeled temporary or overlooked. But the moment they are chosen, everything changes. They receive a new name, a new family, and a permanent future. They are no longer “available for placement,” but beloved son or beloved daughter. Isaiah uses this same language of transformation: those once abandoned are now Sought After. In Jesus, God does not merely improve our lives—He changes our identity.

Richard Foster reminds us, “God’s power is released in our weakness. This is where restoration begins.” Advent meets us precisely there—not at our strongest, but at our most honest. Timothy Keller reminds us that the heart of the gospel is not our search for God, but the discovery that God has found us first. Like adoption, salvation is not earned; it is initiated by love. In Christ, God comes to claim His people, clothing them with salvation and rejoicing over them with joy. What was once broken is being restored; what was once lost is being named and welcomed home.

Matthew Henry observes that the watchmen in Isaiah 62 are not appointed to announce doom, but hope—to keep reminding God’s people that the Lord is coming. Advent trains us to wait in that same confidence. As we move toward Christmas, we wait as people already sought, already named, and already loved—trusting that the God who came once will come again and complete the work of making all things new.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

As we wait in this Advent season, help us to trust that we are sought and loved by You. Restore what is broken, renew our hope, and shape our hearts for Christ’s coming. Teach us to wait with confidence and to live as people clothed in Your salvation.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

 

Getting Ready by Listening to Warnings

Scripture Reading: Isaiah 3:1–12

“Tell the righteous it will be well with them… 

Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them.” 

 Isaiah 3:10–11

Advent carries us through a beautiful spiritual movement — remembering, watching, praising, repenting— and today, listening. In Isaiah 3, God speaks not with empty threats but with loving urgency. He uncovers the consequences of unfaithfulness so that His people might return to Him. As Scripture says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline” (Revelation 3:19). Isaiah’s warnings are ultimately mercies. God reveals what destroys so He can restore what is broken. He exposes false securities, failed leadership, and social decay not to condemn but to awaken.

Isaiah’s picture is sobering: stability collapses, leadership falters, and communities turn against one another. This unraveling reflects what happens when people forget the Lord. Yet even here, grace shines through the cracks. God is not pushing His people away; He is calling them home. His correction is not the end—it is the beginning of restoration. Every warning is a reminder that our choices shape our lives, our homes, and even our society. Like the psalmist, we pray, “Search me, O God… lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23–24). God confronts what destroys us because He desires to heal us.

In Advent terms, getting ready means listening when God shows us what harms our hearts, our homes, our churches, and our world. He uncovers the pride and hidden sin that weaken our hearts, the harsh words and unresolved conflicts that strain our homes, the confusion and disunity that weaken our churches, and the injustice and moral drift that darken our world. These revelations are not meant to crush us but to awaken us. God confronts these harms because He desires to heal them. His discipline prepares room for Christ’s forgiveness, His truth restores clarity, and His mercy opens the way for hope. When we receive His warnings as grace, our hearts become ready for the joy He longs to give.

Prayer

Lord,

Thank You that Your warnings are mercies wrapped in truth. Help us listen with humility, recognize what harms us, and return to the path that leads to life. Awaken our hearts, our homes, our churches, and our world to Your restoring love. Prepare us for Christ with clarity, courage, and hope.

Amen.

Getting Ready by Repenting

 

Reading: Matthew 3:1–12

Clearing Space for the Lord

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 

Matthew 3:2

Advent invites us not only to watch and wait but also to prepare, and John the Baptist’s voice rings across the wilderness calling us into that preparation: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” John’s message is not meant to crush but to clear space—for God’s presence, God’s purposes, and God’s transforming love. Repentance begins by naming the things that hinder us: patterns that deaden our hearts, fears that bind us, habits that crowd out our desire for God. Turning from these is not an act of shame but an act of hope—a trust that God has something better, truer, and freer for us. Advent readiness starts here, in the honest work of opening our lives to the Lord who draws near.

John also speaks of repentance that bears fruit. Real change is not measured by emotion or words alone, but by the quiet, steady growth of a transformed life. Fruit grows when roots are nourished—and repentance nourishes the soul by returning it to God. In this sense we all need what Trevor Hudson calls a “Montserrat moment,” the kind of turning Ignatius experienced when he wrote out his sins, confessed them honestly, and hung up his sword at the altar as a symbol of surrender. “Ignatius knew that if he was going to start over with God, he would need to be radically honest with himself, with God, and with at least one other person,” Hudson writes. Repentance, then, is not simply saying sorry—it is choosing the practices and symbols that help us walk into new life, where the Spirit can grow fruit in us that honors God.

John’s final image is powerful: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Fire refines, purifies, and burns away what cannot remain. Ignatius hung up his weapons as a way of burning bridges to an old life; we too are invited to lay down whatever weaponry we carry—defensiveness, resentment, self-reliance, hidden sin. The refining fire of the Spirit is not destructive but restorative—it reveals what is true and strengthens what is good. Advent calls us to welcome this fire, trusting that God’s work in us is for our freedom. In a season so often crowded with noise and hurry, repentance becomes a sacred clearing—a space in which Christ’s light can grow. To get ready is to turn toward the One who comes with mercy, truth, and Holy Spirit fire.

Prayer

Lord, clear space in us for Your coming. Give us courage to release what hinders us and to step into the new life You offer. Burn away what is false, strengthen what is true, and make us ready for the kingdom that draws near. Shape us by Your Spirit into people who bear good fruit.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Getting Ready with Praise

Reading: Luke 1:57–80

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, 

because He has come and has redeemed His people.

Luke 1:68 

Praise is often born out of places where God has met us with mercy, and nowhere is this clearer than in Zechariah’s Benedictus. After months of divinely imposed silence, his first words overflow with blessing: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people.” Zechariah holds in his arms not the Messiah, but the forerunner—the one who will prepare the way—and yet this small beginning fills him with joy. Advent invites us into this same posture: to praise God not only for what He has completed but for what He has begun, for the first light of redemption before the fullness of day.

Praise also reshapes our vision of time. Zechariah blesses God for redemption even before Jesus is revealed to the world. His praise rests on remembered faithfulness—God’s mercies across generations, His promises kept, His love never failing. Advent praise is the same: it draws us into holy remembrance so that we can trust God’s future. As Scripture says, “I will remember the deeds of the Lord… I will meditate on all Your works” (Psalm 77:11–12). Praise anchors us in what God has already done, giving us courage to wait for what He will surely do. It becomes a spiritual steadying—a way of seeing God’s mercy rising like dawn even when the night is not yet fully gone.

And praise prepares the heart. When we praise, we loosen our grip on worry and widen our capacity to receive grace. Praise shifts us from fear to trust, from self-reliance to expectancy, attuning us to the subtle movements of God—the quiet mercy, the whispered leading, the gentle dawn we might otherwise overlook. As the psalmist writes, “My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul” (Psalm 108:1). Zechariah’s song ends with hope, pointing to the coming Light that will guide our feet into the path of peace. In the same way, Advent praise aligns us with God’s coming and prepares room in us for the Christ who rises like dawn.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, let Your tender mercy rise on us like the morning light. Teach us to praise You not only in fulfillment but in beginnings. Open our eyes to the dawn of Your redemption and prepare our hearts with gratitude, trust, and joy.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Getting Ready for the Surprise

Reading: Luke 1:5–25

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard.

Luke 1:13

Advent reminds us that God’s greatest works often begin in places that look barren, quiet, or forgotten. Luke opens his Gospel with an elderly priest and his wife—faithful, righteous, and yet living with the ache of unanswered prayer. Into this disappointment, the angel’s words break like dawn: “Your prayer has been heard.” Before Jesus is born, before the manger, before the angels fill the sky, God begins His redemption story with a surprise. As the psalmist sings, “He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children” (Psalm 113:9). Hope enters the narrative not through the powerful, but through a couple who had long stopped expecting anything new.

There is mystery in how God works, and none of it follows our timelines. While Zechariah is offering incense in silence, God is already weaving the impossible. Advent teaches us to pay attention to the quiet places—our longings, our waiting, our weary prayers that feel too old to rise. God chooses these hidden places as the soil for new beginnings. As E. M. Bounds writes, “The possibilities of prayer are found in its allying itself with the purposes of God, for God’s purposes and man’s praying are the combination of all potent and omnipotent forces.” And as Howard Thurman reminds us, we discover the Eternal not by escaping our experiences but by entering them deeply; it is often in the ordinary moments, the ones we have nearly given up on, that we suddenly find ourselves surprised by God’s presence.

The child promised to Zechariah would prepare a people for the Lord—yet the way this promise begins is deeply personal: God remembers a couple, speaks their names, and meets them in their private sorrow. Advent hope often starts exactly there—in the impossible, in the forgotten, in the prayers we no longer speak aloud. As we continue this journey of getting ready, we are invited to hold our lives open to God’s unexpected grace. His redemption story still begins with surprises.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, 

As we walk this Advent path, help us stay open to Your surprises. Meet us in the places that feel barren, weary, or forgotten. Remind us that our prayers are heard and that You often begin Your work where we least expect it. Prepare our hearts to welcome Your unexpected grace.

Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.