Preparations ...

Friday, April 11, 2014. Sometimes, preparations are needed to do something properly. When you want to visit some other country, you need to know the basics to be able to move around, to find your way, to survive.

Preparations …

Our modern world needs a lot of knowledge when you want to live and work in it. For many jobs today you need years of preparation. You need to attend school, learn how to read and to write. But you also learn a lot about computers, about our legal system, about social processes.

You need to learn how to structure your work. The skill to be able to structure your work is one of the key skills you need in a modern working environment. You only learn this by years of training. You only learn it with a lot of exercise. Usually, you first learn to carry out little tasks. Then, when you are successful, you get larger tasks to do.

You cannot work as a professional musician without a long way which brings you to the point where you can do it. You learn your instrument. Usually, it is needed to learn several instruments. You need to have a lot of knowledge about harmonies, about the way classical and modern orchestras are organized. At some point, you might be good enough to be admitted into some college of music. And when you are successful there, you might be able to compete for one of the jobs in a professional orchestra. Finally, you might end up there, a professional musician giving concerts again and again and again.

Spiritual preparations …

We are reading in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. It talks about John, the Baptist. It also talks about Jesus, about the messiah - a special person, which brings salvation and light into the world. But before the messiah can come, a lot of preparation is needed. We might ask ourselves, why this is necessary. But let us read first:

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

It is very interesting: John talks about preparations for the messiah. Often, we tell people that everyone can come as he or she is. And that is true. But still - without starting to ask the right questions, without the desire to get to know the Lord, we will not be able to come to faith. Without our willingness to stop sin and to be changed, we will not be able to come to faith and to live in faith. Preparations have their special role in this process … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts