Ready or Not, Here I Come!

The title of today’s post, “Ready or Not, Here I Come!” may remind you of hide and seek, a childhood game you used to play.

As soon as the seeker finishes counting, he or she yells, “Ready or not, here I come!” and begins searching for everyone who is hiding.

My grandchildren, Logan and Sidney, love this game.

The adrenaline rush they get from hiding and/or looking for others who are hiding trumps every other outside game they enjoy playing.

This post isn’t really about the game, though.

It’s about Bible teachers (likely well-meaning) who are telling believers in Christ (Christians, the church, Christ’s bride) that they aren’t going to be ready for the return of Christ until they get their act together.

I agree that there are earthly consequences to the sinful choices we make, and I assure you that I am not making light of ungodly behavior.

Behavior matters.

I love the following passage in Paul’s epistle which clearly instructs Christians to “deny ungodliness”:

The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Titus 2:11–13 NASB

What I don’t agree with, however, is when Bible teachers use fear-based methods to influence Christians to act better.

When Steven and I founded His Heart’s Desire Ministries in 2006, our tagline was “Preparing the Bride of Christ for His Soon Return.”

At that time, because of what I had been studying and listening to, our mission was to help the church—Christ’s bride—get ready for His return.

“How?” you might ask.

By telling her how much He loves her, who He is in her, and who she is in Him.

By teaching her how to allow Christ to live His life through hers.

In my mind, this is how we would be helping her get ready for His return.

Makes complete sense, right?

It did to me, for the longest time.

Until.

Until nagging questions began to creep into my mind.

Thoughts like, “How much is enough to be prepared for His return?”

“How will I know when I am ready for His return?”

I even asked a long-time spiritual mentor who was teaching on this subject, “If Christ’s bride isn’t ready right now, then what will it take for her to get ready?”

A sincere question to which I did not receive an answer.

While some of these questions may seem unimportant to you (or even a little OCD), they were significant to me.

After much unsettled searching, I realized (through the inspiration of Christ’s Spirit in me) something very important.

Every one of these questions had to do with what I was doing to make myself ready … my performance … my track record.

But didn’t Christ die for my sins and make me a brand-new creation in Him so that my life would no longer be about my track record, but His (which, by the way, is perfect)?

Wasn’t I saved by grace through faith and not by anything I did? (Ephesians 2:8-9)?

One answer I got to these questions was, “Oh yeah, we are saved by grace and can’t do anything to lose our salvation, but if we don’t __________, __________,  and __________ (you can fill in the blanks), we will miss out on the rewards in His coming kingdom.”

Okay, so let me get this straight.

The bride of Christ needs to make herself ready today so that she can enjoy future rewards (greater position, larger mansions, more jewels) in Heaven?

Do we really have to wait until we experience physical death or the Rapture before we can begin to enjoy the ultimate reward of being joined in eternal spiritual union with Christ? (1 Cor. 6:17).

Please tell me: In the here and now, what could be more wonderful than knowing and enjoying “Christ in me, the hope of glory”? (Col. 1:27).

Please don’t misunderstand me.

I am not trying to downplay how wonderful Heaven will be for those of us who are in Christ (Rev. 21:1–4).

I believe we should be looking forward to that wonderful day when we will see Jesus face to face and receive our glorified body that will be unstained by sin and never again age or feel pain (1 Cor. 15:50–54; 1 Thess. 4:13–17).

What I am trying to do is emphasize how much we can enjoy our relationship with Christ today, simply because we are His.

Something else I would like you to consider while making up your mind about whether or not you are currently Heaven-ready is this: Jesus told the thief on the cross who believed in Him before he died, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43 NASB).

The thief was promised that he would be with Jesus in Paradise that very day.

And he didn’t have to do one thing to get ready, except believe in Jesus before he died.

Is it possible that the only thing Christ’s bride has to do to be ready for His return is something she’s already done—which is to believe in (into) Him?

The very act that made her His bride?

Could it really be that simple?

I believe the answer to every one of these questions is a resounding Yes!!!

I’m no longer buying the unsettling message that many Bible teachers and authors are selling: “Here is a list of what Christ’s bride needs to be doing to get ready for His return … “

I believe it is vital to question long-held assumptions and beliefs, testing them against what the Bible says and asking our internal Teacher, Christ’s Spirit, to bear witness with the truth.

If you enjoyed this post, then I think you would enjoy both of my books where I share the undiluted, unpolluted love and grace of God.