Imagine you're a math teacher. You need to give a test on chapter 6, but you want your students to do well, so you don't want to surprise them with it, as they wouldn't be READY. So you ask, "Who's READY to take the test?"

Everyone in class raises their hands, but before you get too happy, you realize:

•  1/3 of the class just wants the study of chapter 6 to be over, no matter the consequences! And,

•  1/3 of the class says they're ready only because they don't think the test will drag down their semester grade TOO much. And,

•  1/3 of the class just THINKS they're ready, but they really don't understand the material!

Wouldn't it be great to a have students who already have a part-time job which involves using the formulas of chapter 6 on a regular basis. Those student have "been there, done that" so could be tested at any given moment. They are LIVING READY.

This illustration explains why I'm not afraid to die. I'm LIVING READY. NOT because...

•  I just want to get past all of life's suffering. That would be DESPAIR, not caring about the bad consequences.

•  All my worldly responsibilities have been discharged. That would be RESIGNATION , because the (temporal) consequences won't be TOO bad.

•  I have been told to something that's not even in the Bible (or less than what's in the Bible) and then I've had a strong "feel-good" emotion. That would be FALSE HOPE .

I'm READY because I've "been there, done that." Yes, with death.

I have died to my old self and died to sin.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I have been buried with Christ.

Romans 6:3-4 ("chapter 6") Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

I have been raised to walk in newness of life - "dead indeed to sin, but alive to God."

I'm keeping what I've studied fresh in my mind and my life by applying the formula of God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit to be changed and to share the change.

That gives EXPERIENCE which gives CONFIDENCE.

That's VICTORY. That's LIVING READY.

Are YOU ready for the test on chapter 6?