The idea of spiritual preparation sits at the very heart of Lent, a season dedicated to
preparing our hearts for the death and resurrection of Jesus. But how do you “get
prepared” for the events that—from the betrayer’s kiss to the ripped veil to the words,
“He is not here”—transformed the entire world?
“Preparation” is a word that has often stressed me out. Whether preparing for an
audition, a role, a party, or a massive life change, I feel like it’s never enough. I imagine
some sort of pinnacle to “preparedness,” a sense of perfection wrapped in readiness.
And I convince myself that everyone can reach this level of preparedness … except for
me, and no matter what I do, I will never have done enough to be “prepared.”
As I prepared for this devotional, all I could think about was the stress that preparation
causes me (oh, the irony), so I turned to the scriptures, where truth is found. As I read
through the first few chapters of Luke, the word “prepare” jumped out at me several
times. The first two times occur in Luke 1 in reference to John the Baptist:
And [John the Baptist] will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (Luke 1:17
ESV)
And you, [John the Baptist], will be called the prophet of the Most High; for
you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways (Luke 1:76 ESV).
In Luke 2, Simeon holds baby Jesus and blesses God, saying,
For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples (Luke 2:30–31 ESV).
And finally, in perhaps one of the most famous “prepare” verses, Luke applies a
passage from Isaiah to John the Baptist:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and
hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough
places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God”
(Luke 3:4–6 ESV).
Okay, I know that’s a lot of scripture, so I’m not going to get too technical here, but the
two Greek words that translate to “prepare” or “prepared” mean “make ready.” What we
see in these scriptures is the Lord’s desire to make us ready to receive and encounter
His salvation.
Now, that’s a simplistic analysis of those scriptures. Preparing ourselves, being made
ready, for the Lord could probably have full books written about it, which could easily
induce “preparation stress.”
Those books could talk about how preparation is integral to Jewish culture, especially
regarding the Sabbath and the feasts. The Israelites had to prepare for
Passover—which is when Jesus, the Passover Lamb, was crucified—by removing all
leaven from their homes, a prophetic metaphor for removing sin from our lives.
They could talk about preparation in terms of hunger for the Lord, stirring our hearts to
hunger for more of Him, seeking His face earnestly.
They could talk about preparing for Him with disciplines—daily Bible readings, private
worship and communion, and intentional prayer times.
And hear me: All of this is good. It’s godly. It’s right. It’s needed. To be good stewards of
anything, we need to prepare.
But it’s also so easy to fall into stress. Striving. Perfection. Trying to reach that state of
“preparedness.”
If I view preparing for Him through a lens of what I do, I will always come up short. I
need a new lens. So, after reading the “voice in the wilderness” passage, I looked up
commentary on the Isaiah verses Luke is referencing, and I found something that
tugged at my heart:
The idea is that the LORD is coming to His people as a triumphant King, who
has the road prepared before Him so He can travel in glory and ease. Every
obstacle in the way must be removed.1
This lens shifts the focus from me to Jesus. Instead of preparing to achieve a certain
state, preparation is about welcoming Him as He travels in glory and ease. It’s about His
death on the cross making a way for us to come to the Father. Because the point of the
cross is that we will never be enough, and we will never prepare enough. That’s why He
had to die. That’s why He had to rise.
So yes, do all the things you do to prepare that are good and wise, but also—turn your
eyes to see Him running swiftly to you in glory and ease. Because the One we’re
preparing for is the only one who can help us prepare.
1 https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/isaiah-40/