28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
At church on Sunday we sang a song. It was beautiful and called out to my heart. Yes, even so, Lord Jesus come. I am weary here on this earth, and the thought of heaven and seeing Jesus face to face gives me hope. When we hit the chorus the room filled with life. But, my soul heard the words and I literally sat down and wept.
Like a bride waiting for her groom
We’ll be a church ready for you
Every heart longing for our king
We sing, even so come
Lord Jesus come
So we wait, we wait for you.*
Is it waiting that we do as a bride waiting for her groom? Or do we spend our days preparing for Him to come? The verses of the song allude to the preparation…calling back sinners, being ready…but with such sweet music and cadence that we are almost lulled to sleep. I kept feeling like this should be a victory march. This should be the cry of our hearts. How do we make ourselves ready for our King? How do we make ourselves beautiful for our groom? What does a beautiful church/bride look like to our Christ?
Is He looking for a white dress? Or is He looking for a pure heart? I think we have taken what God has said in Scripture to mean that we are not to let ourselves get dirty in this world. To not get dirty means we must not let the world touch us, nor us to touch the world. But what He really says is this.
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Revelation 19:8)
The closer I get to the end of my life, I have realized that I will not get through a Christ-like life without getting the dust and dirt and blood of the world on me. I am not meant to stay spotless on the outside. I am meant to stay spotless on the inside. I don’t think that the Incarnate God walked earthly roads without getting his robes dirty.
There is a filthy, dying world around us just as there was in Jesus’ day: blind Bartimaeus crying out on the side of the street; the woman who was taken from her adulterous place and thrown at the feet of Jesus; the woman who was literally bleeding to death as she grasped for the hem of his garment; and the unclean lepers who found themselves healed as they were touched by a holy God. If am to live my life like Christ – in His image – how will I not get a little bit soiled?
I don’t believe that I want to be found sitting in my boudoir in my gown of white just waiting, pining away for my groom. I believe my groom (God) wants me to be preparing for His kingdom to come…like a bride of days gone by would prepare for marriage by building a hope chest. She gathered and stored up treasures that would be useful for the life to come.
So what is required in the life to come? The wedding feast of the Lamb is already prepared. No need for dishes, pots and pans, or pretty napkins. Our bodies will be new and the old will be passed away. I’m not sure about you, but I don’t think I will need to take along beautiful clothing. I think that if He has a crown already prepared for me, He will also have royal garments more costly than anything I could ever afford to take with me. No blankets needed to keep me warm. No toasters. No linens. No silver. No fine china.
No, I believe that the only thing God wants HIS bride to bring with her is the bridal party and the guests. Our commission to the preparation for the wedding is to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to make disciples. (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20) The second greatest commandment according to Scripture is to love our neighbors as ourselves.(Matthew 22:36-40) If I loved myself enough to make a decision to follow Christ so I can spend eternity with Him in heaven, then I ought to love my “neighbor” enough to make sure he/she knows how they can get there too. These are the folks you bring to the party – the ones for whom you planted seeds, tilled the ground and harvested the fruit of salvation.
It is God’s desire that the whole world know His saving grace. The broken-hearted. The prisoner. The captive. The widow. The orphan. The refugee. How will they hear without a neighbor? (Romans 10:4) Yes, I know that the Bible says “how will they hear without a preacher?” But if you are one of His redeemed children, you are a part of the priesthood. (I Peter 2:9) God gives us clues about His return in the book of Mark chapter 24. But in verse 14, he makes a strong statement. “The good news of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world. It will be a witness to all nations. And then the end will come.” We have work to do. There are still nations who have not been reached with the Gospel of Christ.
Yes, Jesus is coming soon. Even so, come. But please don’t let Him come to find you waiting. Let Him come to find you working. Be ready. Let your heart not be troubled with the stains on your dress. Clear out the stains on your heart. Let HIM make you clean. Be ready.
If you want to wear your wedding dress to the neighborhood barbecue – go ahead. If you want to wear it on the city bus to work every day – do it. Wear it to your sporting events. Wear it to church – you might just bring revival. Wear it to the villages of Africa. Wear it to the streets of Syria. Wear it to the refugee camps of Thailand. Wear it as you are climbing through the 10/40 window. Go ahead and put on your wedding dress, roll up the lace, tie on your work boots. Wear it everywhere people need to know Jesus. I think this might be what “ready for your groom” looks like!
*Lyrics quoted from Even So Come by Jess Cates, Jason Ingram, and Chris Tomlin
I understand the intent of the song and in no way seek to disparage that. This blog merely states my point of view on the impending return of Christ and our position in it.