Dressed To Serve

"Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.

"Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

"Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.

Luke 12:35-37

Often times when I go about my day I hear verses in my head from my morning readings. Usually the verses are the ones I understand the least.

he will gird himself to serve

As uneasy as it is to understand, God has called his people to be slaves, the slaves of all. What is even harder to understand is the way Christ styles himself to those who wait faithfully for him: he returns dressed to serve them and they recline at his table.

However much these men become slaves for Christ, it really is Christ who has become a slave for them.

that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks

Often times we think of godliness as a slow process that increases gradually (perhaps without being noticed) until it has ripened fully. The passage here speaks about an immediate readiness.

The slaves do not build up a lifetime of strength so they are able to open the door at the very end. The faithful slaves are ready all along, and they are ready at every instant.

May God work within the ones He has chosen, that they may be ready to serve their Lord and that they may be ready to be served by their Lord. May their hearts be ready at the moment He comes for them.