Matthew 24:44 (ESV)
⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

The appeal from Jesus to be ready is as important as any given in the Bible.  It is an exhortation to prepare our souls for His coming, something that has eternal consequences.   What is more important than the salvation of the soul?  Jesus called upon us to consider this very question.

Matthew 16:26 (ESV)
²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

The answer to both of these questions is nothing.  A man who gains the world and loses his soul has profited nothing and lost everything.  And, once a man loses his soul, there is absolutely nothing he can give to get it back.  What is the solution?  Matthew 24:44 tells us.  BE READY!

Being ready for Jesus when He returns should be our main priority in life.  Since we do not know when our Lord is going to return, the only safe and sure course is to be ready all the time.  We do this by being baptized into Christ.

Galatians 3:27 (ESV)
²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

We are told in two other places that we must be baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13).  There is no other way to get there.  Baptism not only puts us into Christ but it, simultaneously, takes away our sins because it is in the waters of baptism that God forgives our sins.

Acts 2:38 (ESV)
³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

After one is baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, he must remain faithful until death, or until Christ comes back, whichever happens first.

Revelation 2:10 (ESV)
¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

The Bible puts all this in terms of watching.

Matthew 25:13 (ESV)
¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

We all should be watching for the Lord.  Not by going outside and looking up into the sky, but by living faithfully to God every day, being, as Paul said, “steadfast, unmoveable, always abound in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).  Only then will we be ready for the coming of the Lord.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.