SEASONS OF PREPARATION
Sometimes we go through seasons in life. If you’re growing as a Christian, you’re always in some sort of transition. You’re always coming out of or going into some kind of test.
The test looks different for each of us, but no one escapes the test. It could be age, pain, or abundance, but every season of life is a test.
As we look ahead to 2023 (hard to believe, huh?), I feel like we as a church are in a season of preparation. I spent last week preparing to prepare… with my dad preaching this morning and Bro. Christian preaching tonight, I used the time to prepare for our staff planning next week.
Each day is its own kind of test… what are you working for? What are you doing in life? What’s your purpose, and are you glorifying God with the tests He’s putting before you day by day?
Seasons of sickness. Seasons of harvest. Seasons of joy. Seasons of sorrow.
Sometimes we can experience all of them in a week, a year, a decade. But they never seem to last forever. That’s good news.
What season are you in right now?
Sin will stagnate you; the devil will chew you up and spit you out when you live for the pleasures of sin. The thrill of unrighteousness lasts so little time and leaves such an emptiness inside. I certainly recommend against it.
Living for Christ—through every season—is what we are called to be and do as Christians. So, retirement, and arthritis, and a new family dynamic, and teenagers, and a new job, and a raise at work, or a loss of a job—those are all circumstances that might alter the season, but must not alter your walk with the Lord.
Maybe we view every season as a season of preparation. Not only are we preparing for the Christmas play, preparing for the school year, or preparing for 2023… we’re preparing for the Judgment Seat of Christ.
–Pastor Ryan