Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
Obsessed With His Coming
Pastor Scott
Thursday, August 12, 2004
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"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning."
(Luke 12:35)
"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning." This verse speaks of preparation. What are we doing to prepare ourselves in this race? As the Olympics are coming, there is talk about blood doping and drugs that people take to cheat in their preparation for the games. What are you doing? If it were lawful to use spiritual blood doping to prepare for the rapture, I would do it! I would do whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to finish this course lawfully! Are you going to the full extent of preparation? Paul said in Philippians, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14). I exert myself to the full extent of my energy to obtain that prize. Paul says, "Some of you do it for earthly gain and for a little crown." In the original Olympics they wore a wreath; today it is a gold medal. Are you preparing yourself for the coming of the Lord Jesus as these athletes are preparing for the Olympic games? Whose prize means more to them?
You say, "Well, they are athletes, I'm not into those things." Maybe you are not interested in a gold medal or world acclaim, but you are interested in that corner office or the new home. Tragically, many of us are selling out for a lot less than world notoriety. Some of us are selling out for the latest fashion, weird hairdos, pierced noses, better cars, or a few bucks a month. Where is your treasure and what are you doing to acquire it? How distracted are you?
The one thing about being a world-class athlete or champion is that you have to be temperate in everything else. You have to have one obsession; and that is to be the best. Are you obsessed with the coming of Jesus? When He comes, will He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8) Will you have the greatest measure of faith possible when He comes? What kind of a heart do you have? Isn't it interesting how we can have a heart to be champions for ourselves? But what about being a champion for Him? What about living our lives for His glory to really focus on bringing God glory and honoring Him? "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning." As the servants of the Bridegroom, there is to be a readiness. We need to examine our own hearts.
In the Scriptures we are spoken of as the Bride of Christ. As you look at the parable of the virgins though, we are not. That parable is not talking about the Bride; it is the Bridegroom and the servants of the Bridegroom. The way we look at ourselves as the Bride of Christ, the wife of Christ, is a little different than how we look at ourselves as the servants--those who serve Him as the representatives, those who are making provision for, looking to and hastening unto the day of the Lord as His ambassadors. What are we doing to point to the coming of the Lord? What are we doing to prepare ourselves for the glory of God? The rapture of the Church isn't just about our individual redemption; it's about the glory of God. It's about honoring the Bridegroom. What are we doing to glorify Him in our daily preparation?