2 Timothy 4:1–2 “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
The Bible teaches the Christian – the one that follows Christ – to give account of their decision to follow Jesus Christ or to give their witness or testimony to another. Many times, we do not remember this because we are ignorant of the scriptures or can’t seem to recall the Romans Road to salvation. The Bible teaches that we “overcome the adversary by our testimony and by the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11) …it’s that simple.
The word translated “ready” comes from the Greek word for “stand.” The idea is to always be “standing by,” always “on-duty,” “ready to go.” The original language, the words for “in season and out of season” mean “timely and untimely” or “convenient and inconvenient.” Another occurrence of the same word is found in Mark 14:11, where Judas is looking for a “good time” or “opportunity” to betray Jesus.
If you are a Christian, you are a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” We must be ready to proclaim God’s truth; regardless of his personal feelings or the audience’s reactions. Whether we are speaking to a crowd or changing a tire, we should “be ready in season and out of season” to declare His praises and His truth to a watching world.
Remember the reason you surrendered your life to Christ and prepare or train yourself to be able to relate your testimony easily and quickly. Vince Lombardi, the great Hall of Fame Coach of the World Champions Green Bay Packers in the 1960’s said, “The harder you train, the less likely you will quit!” How true! Perhaps we should train ourselves a little more for Jesus so that we too can be prepared to engage in action!
We must engage the people in our world….our family, our friends and even passerby’s that we belong to Jesus and why.
Always remembering this: Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people!