“Preparing”

 

    How would you prepare for God? What kind of cleaning would you need in your life? Would you be frantically cleaning toilets, porches, and floors to give the appearance of a clean house? Would you have to remove certain movies from the DVD stand or music from your CD tower to avoid embarrassment? Would you stifle your temper to prevent angry outbursts? Would websites you normally visit have to be erased from your "internet history"? Would you wash your car? Would you keep God away from your friends? Would you feed him certain food? How would you prepare for God?

    Matthew 3 says that John the Baptist was "preparing the way of the Lord." The Scripture refers to him dressing in camel's hair, eating locusts and preaching in the boonies. He preached a simple message, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He exhorted people to " bear fruit worthy of repentance." He baptized with water for repentance. There seems to be a trend here. A life of repentance is a life of preparation. We are returning (the literal meaning of repent) to God to prepare from him to return. We don't repent to gain favor in God's eyes. We repent because we know he is returning and we must prepare for the new world he is creating. How are you preparing for God?