Have you ever heard of someone “crashing a wedding”? This is when people dress in their finest formalwear and attend a wedding they have not been invited to simply to enjoy the good food, take pictures of a happy bride and groom, meet new friends and have an enjoyable evening. They have fun pretending to be acquaintances of the newlywed couple and might even get away with their fling if they are not uncovered as complete strangers.
Yesterday, I read in Luke 12:35-38 that those who are watching for the Master’s return will be blessed. We need to be faithfully working and looking for the Bridegroom to come. The days we are living in are pointing to a soon return of the Lord for His faithful servants. But what if some are not watching? The Lord continued His admonition in Luke 13:25-27,
“When once the Master of the house had risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord open for us,’ and He will answer… ‘I do not know you, where are you from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’”
Many people listen to worship music in their car, watch sermons on television or participate in activities at their local church and think that they are living for God. These are like wedding crashers who pretend to follow the Lord just to enjoy some of the perks of His kingdom. It is not enough to simply attend church each week, or listen to services on the Internet. We need to have a close, personal relationship with the Lord, to be serving Him and worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth day and night. We need to be seeking Him in prayer and obeying His voice and applying His Word to our daily lives. There will not be any wedding crashers to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. No one will be able to bluff their way in to the kingdom of our Lord. The Lord knows each of His children by name and by face. He knows where they are and what they are going through at every moment.
Now is the time, more than ever before, that we need to be faithful servants, watching for signs of the Lord’s return and calling others to also receive the invitation to be part of the Lord’s glorious Bride. Blessed are those who will be found standing in the third watch of the night, anticipating their Master’s arrival. Listen to Psalm 134,
“Behold, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who by night stand in the house of the LORD! Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. The LORD who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!”
May you know Him and be known by Him today. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)