When Am I Ready?
I was talking to a friend yesterday about baptism and the implications/significance of it. She mentioned somewhere in the conversation that she had not been baptized yet but didn’t know if she was ready. A big part of that came from not knowing how to tell she was ready. As I was thinking of how to respond to her, I was brought back to winter break when I was talking to another friend about knowing when you’re ready to go on a mission trip. And I realized that the answer to these 2 questions: When am I ready to get baptized? and When am I ready to go on a mission trip? are actually the same.
As I reflected on how I knew I was ready for a mission trip, I realized that it actually had nothing to do with being “ready.” Rather, it had everything to do with being “open.”
Personally, discernment is one of my biggest weaknesses. I always struggle with truly knowing what God is telling me and I often feel that I can’t hear His voice at all. But I think I’ve come to realize that it’s a big challenge for many people. In my conversations with people, the question of "How do I know when I’m ready?” makes a frequent appearance. How do I know when I’m ready to enter into this next stage of my life? How do I know when I’m ready to accept Christ? How do I know when I’m ready to lead a small group? How do I know when I’m ready to get baptized? How do I know when I’m ready to go on a mission trip? We always think that there’s a list of things we need to check off before we’re “ready” to do some big task or make some big decision. We feel there are certain qualifications and skills we need to have before we can even think of saying “yes” to something. This often intimidates us and prevents us from doing something that we were actually called to do.
It is my personal belief that we’re never actually 100% “ready” for anything. I’ve been raised in a Christian household all my life and I still think I’m not “ready” for the vast majority of things I sign myself up for (ahaha @ my overcommitting self). There’s no such thing as a perfect Christian who “has and knows it all.” It doesn’t matter if you just began exploring Christianity or if you’ve been a Christian your whole life. We’re all still growing and constantly learning new things about our faith. Our God is too big for us to ever be able to fully comprehend Him.
And that’s why I say it’s more about being “open.” I think if you are open to learning everything He has to teach you, if you are willing to have your flaws exposed and challenged by God, if you are open to accepting His grace, and finally, if you are open to being transformed and used by Him, then I think you’re as “ready” as you’ll ever be. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you know (by little I mean as little as only knowing God and Jesus’ name), if your heart is open, that’s honestly all it takes. And that goes for baptism, mission trips, and any decision you will make in your life.
So I encourage you, rather than focusing on developing skills and “qualifications,” focus on opening your heart up to the infinite possibilities and lessons that God offers. And I assure you, you’ll be more than ready.
~jo