Are You Ready to Meet the Lord? | Matthew 3:1-17

This week shook me. I had a moment where I truly felt how thin the line is between “normal life” and standing before God. I was listening to my daughter describe her symptoms, and the word preeclampsia came up. I’d heard the word before, but I didn’t really know what it meant. Then I started reading: high blood pressure, blurry vision, migraines… and she’d been having migraines for days. The blurry vision hit Wednesday night. And because someone had providentially given them a blood pressure cuff, they checked her pressure “just to see.” It was sky high. Then I read what can happen if this goes bad—death. And it hit me like a truck: my 20-year-old daughter could die. My granddaughter could die. And for a couple days, I felt those emotional highs and lows that come when you realize you are not in control of anything. It humbled me. I had to say it out loud before God: Lord, You don’t owe me my daughter. You don’t owe me grandchildren. You don’t owe me another day. He’s not in our debt. Every breath is mercy. And I cried out to Him—not as someone making demands, but as someone pleading for grace. Because it reminded me of something we all avoid thinking about: life is fragile. We are a heartbeat away from the judgment seat of Christ. A heartbeat. So I want to ask you straight: Are you ready to meet the Lord? If you’re not a believer, I’m not going to soften this—your main issue is this: have you repented of your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ? Are you trusting in Him alone to save you? If not, you are not ready. You might be successful, respected, busy, “doing fine”—but you are not ready to stand before God. But I’m not only talking to unbelievers. I’m talking to Christians too, because there’s a second sense of being “ready.” I can know my sins are forgiven and still feel the weight of this: Have I been living for Jesus? Have I used my life well? Have I done what I’m here to do? And I’ll be honest with you—I don’t feel ready in that second sense. I’m ready to meet the Lord in the sense that I know my Savior and I know my debt has been paid. But I don’t want to stand before Him empty-handed. Wise men brought gifts when they met the Lord. And when I come before Him, I don’t want my life to be a story of comfort, distraction, and wasted time. I want to have something to lay at His feet. I want to do more for Him than just “have a nice life.” That’s why Matthew 3 matters so much. John the Baptist shows up preparing people to meet the Messiah. His whole ministry is basically this warning: He’s coming. He could show up any day. Are you ready? And John doesn’t tell people to get ready with vague spirituality. He tells them plainly: repentance, confession of sin, and faith in Christ are essential if you want peace with God. That’s the point I want to land on with you: peace with God doesn’t come from pretending you’re fine. It comes when you stop making excuses, you come into the light, you confess what’s true, and you throw yourself on Christ. That’s how a person gets ready. And that’s how a believer stays ready—by living honestly before God and living intentionally for Him, because none of us knows how many heartbeats we have left. Read the blog post here: https://cotwstl.org/are-you-ready-to-meet-the-lord-matthew-31-17/ Do you want to support Church of The Word? https://cotwstl.org/give/ Check out our church here! https://cotwstl.org/ #biblestudy #faith