Having one of those days where your body and your heart don’t line up? I know what I should be doing and could be doing, just having a little battle with my bones. My mind wants to have a little sympathy and I just want to say “get over it, the bones are not the boss of me!” Dig deeper and move on. Whine. Whine.

Here’s what I know I should do. I need to be reminding myself of the precious time I am wasting that I’ll wish I could get back. I will always regret later what I could have done while I just didn’t feel like it. If nothing is truly pressing me to get up and moving, how about preparing for some things I know I have coming up? How about preparing for my future? Kids hear this a lot, but don’t we grown up girls need to listen and heed our own advice? There are rewards for those who are “made ready.”

How many times have I come up short on things because I did not use my time wisely to prepare for them and I must suffer the consequences?

Revelation 19:7 says “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.” This lovely verse is prefaced by the truth that when these words are spoken in heaven, they come from a great multitude. There are also sounds of “many waters” and “mighty thunderings.” Wow! This is an announcement to top all announcements! Someone, the bride of Christ, has done something – got herself ready –  and it was beyond awesome.

How many times I come up short on things because I did not use my time wisely to prepare for them and I must suffer the consequences. I dilly-dallied around and wasn’t ready. Oh how I do not want this to be the case when it comes time to being at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

This is my future. As a believer, I am part of the Church, the Bride of Christ. The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the event in Heaven that takes place after the Rapture and after our time at the Judgment Seat of Christ. At this point our lives have been reviewed by Christ and some rewards have been handed out. We will be poised and ready to experience the forever union of the Church with her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

So how do I get myself “ready?” My Study Bible takes me back to 1 Corinthians 3:12-15:

“Now if anyone builds on this foundation (salvation through faith in Jesus Christ) with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” (parentheses mine)

Fire, in this section of scripture, is a figurative word that means judgment, “the absolute righteous judgment of God.” This is a refining fire that takes the impurities out of everything we had to offer. If we build on our salvation with things that will not survive the fire of judgment, we will not be meeting our Bridegroom adorned with the beauty a bride desires to display at her wedding.

I need to take the time God has given me to-day, to prepare for the-Day when the church is presented to Christ. The refining “fire” does not take away our salvation, but “burns” away all the stuff we did with the wrong motive or an impure heart. Then we are presented to Him adorned as the bride He is worthy of.

I need to make ready myself and serve Him by helping others to make themselves ready. God has given us the ability to influence other women so that they will be “made ready” for that great Day.

I need to preach to myself that it does not matter if I feel like going about the business of prayer, Bible reading and studying. I should be doing it anyway. I need to be meditating on His Word instead of mindlessly scrolling through social media and watching forms of entertainment that do not enrich my soul, but drag it down. For if I do not get a grip on what I feel like doing, I won’t be ready. I’ll be asking for just 5 more minutes…5 more minutes.

Sisters, we cannot trust our feelings.  Ann Voscamp writes “You don’t judge your feelings; you feel feelings – and then give them to God.” (The Broken Way, pg 179) We can trust God. His promises, His commands, His truths. We do not have to see or feel the rewards now, they will come. It is our faith that will carry us to the “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

This offering today does not mean to lay a guilt trip on anyone. I am preaching to myself, really. I am trying to tell myself that I deserve a break and so a lazy day is just what is in order. But I can lay down and read, and I can pray and I can purpose in my heart to make tomorrow better. There is always something I can do to prepare myself for the future even when the now is not all I wish it was.

Someone once said that the difference between not reaching your goals and reaching them is whether or not you are willing to trade what you want now for what you want most. In this type of trade, no one really wins. Live in the moment as much as does your soul good, but not to the sacrifice of what you hope to achieve in the future.

Every single day that passes by is another day we can make ourselves better prepared. I am convinced that God’s promises are true and that they should be embraced until He embraces us with those strong, nail scarred arms in Heaven. “So listen here bones, get up, get ready and get going! It will be so worth it!”

(Scripture references: Revelation 19:7, 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Hebrews 11:10, 13)