“Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom." -Luke 12:32

“Gird your loins”, this statement means to prepare and strengthen oneself for what it is to come. Jesus, in the gospel, tells His disciples to be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding so that when their master returns, they will be ready to open the door immediately when he comes and knocks.

The way I understand this, and I’m assuming and hoping that we have the same understanding of the gospel, Jesus wants us to be ready for His return. He wants us to be like the servants who await their masters. He wants us to prepare for His coming. He wants us to be vigilant and ready. How many times have we heard these things from a priest during their homilies? A lot, right? But have we really taken this seriously? Are we really doing our best to get ourselves ready for His return?

For me, honestly, I don’t think I’m fully ready for Jesus to return in this world soon because I am far from being worthy for Him to accept me in His Kingdom and sometimes, I don’t even try hard enough to get myself ready for His return.

I have been serving in the youth ministry for six years nowand I never thought that I’d be staying this long. But with the six years…..and counting, it has been a constant struggle between giving in to temptation and choosing to do good and be good. I know that you have the same experience as well. But the thing is, it’s harder for us, who follow Christ, to do good and be good at all times. Seems unfair right?

I’ve heard this from someone before, that if you choose to follow Christ, the devil will double its efforts to fight against you, make you struggle and make you think that a life without God is easier. This is true because I’ve experienced this. There was a time in my life when I didn’t want to follow God or any god in that matter, anymore. I just got tired of everything and I blamed God for it all. Itwas, indeed, easier, and the problems that I faced were just okay. I felt free from the limitations and rules of my religion. I was happy. I believed that I was happy. I wantedto believe that I was happy. But at the end of the day, all I felt was emptiness. 

Maybe God allowed me to be lost for a while so that I would realize how empty life would be without Him, so that I would know how it would feel and so that I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel the way I felt. To make the story short, God definitely found a way to bring me back to Him. But it didn’t mean that when I came back to God, my faith was unshakeable, that I was never discouraged or sad or drowned by my negative thoughts and problems. I was a number of times and I believe that I will encounter more of that in the future because choosing Christ will not make your life free from the struggles and pain of this world. Choosing Christ means being continuously honed, challenged, discriminated, and rejected because this is how He molds us to be how He wants us to be. This is how He trains His soldiers. He wants us to be strong, to become more patient and to become worthy for Him to accept us in His Kingdom when He returns.

A clay pot doesn’t magically become a beautifully designed pot. It takes time to make it and it goes through unpleasing shapes and figures before it becomes a beautiful pot. 

God is our potter and we are His clay.

Let us lower our pride and admit it to ourselves that we cannot do it alone. Let us always ask God for His guidance, wisdom and compassion to help us get ready for the coming of Jesus.

And one more thing, choosing Christ and to believe that He is coming back, isn’t all about facing the problems and challenges in life that He allows to come our way. There are good things that come with it, too. And these things are the most heartwarming and life-changing experiences that you’ll ever have in life. As you feel and experience these, pass it on to others so that more of us will be waiting for the coming of our master.

We may not know when and how but I tell you this: It is worth the wait.