Preparing for Guests Arriving:
This week we have been getting ready for the arrival of some of our family and as usual, I got to thinking about all the preparation etc.
Already a couple of weeks ago we were finding out all the things they might be interested in around the area for them to do while here.
Then last week, it was time to bake extra and stock the freezer. Cooking a couple of meals ahead to save time and leaving more freedom to entertain, seems like a sensible thing to do. Beds are made up clean and fresh and rooms dusted and cleaned.
We clean out cupboards and get into corners that we know fine well most guests will not be in, but we do it anyway. We are meticulous in cleaning where normally a light rub over will do. Why?
Because we don”t want the flaws in our housework to be discovered!
But I ask myself: Are the people any more comfortable because I have everything bleached and blitzblank? Most folks are not coming to view a house or inspect the dust, they are coming to see the people and we would be much more pleasant company if relaxed instead of stressed out with cleaning and sorting. But no matter whether we know that or not, we still clean our hearts out.
I wonder do we take the same care when we are meeting with the Lord! When He comes to visit us, are our hearts swept clean and ready for His Word to our hearts. Let us take time for Him this week and be ready and open to His still small voice prodding us to reach out to others.
When He sends someone into our lives needing our listening ear are we too busy with our own cluttered lives to listen to them? Is there something they are interested in that we could also learn about as a means of getting to know them better? Some common denominator, allowing us an opening to speak of the New Life Jesus can give them.
As I like to have the freezer stocked up with the fresh baking and cooking, let us prepare to be fresh and¬† have lives which are “a sweet-smelling savour” to the lost whom the Lord brings across our paths. People are hungry, and need to have that hunger satisfied. If we don”t fill their minds with thoughts of Jesus and their need of Him, then satan and the world will send them some appetizers and they will miss out on the real feast. Do we even stop to think of how awful a lost eternity will be for those who are not ready? It will be a million times worse than the worst scenario we can imagine and it will never cease! This should send us to our knees in earnest supplication.
Now that I am ready and prepared for my guests, I can look forward with anticipation to their arrival and all the fun and joy that holds. I have already decided on people we want to have over while they are here to have fellowship, food and fun. There will be a few surprise visits with people calling, as there always is in this house. As we anticipate the future with the Lord, make sure you are prepared and ready to bring as many others with you as you can. That is why He entrusted us with the message, that we could share it! It is amazing that no matter how we anticipate what eternity with Jesus will be like, there will be a few extra surprises and it will be much more than a million times more wonderful than the best we can possibly imagine. I Corinthians 2:6 declares, “Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” And it will never end! Our guests will go home in a couple of weeks, but Heaven will go on for eternity. Only what is done for Jesus will last!
Blessings!
Wilma