ready4royal_wedding

Ready for the Royal Wedding?
by Randall D. Kittle

The end of April of this year, the newspapers and television networks across the globe were all aglow with “news” about England’s royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. As I tried my best to pay no attention to the regal hysteria, something grabbed my attention … the vast amount of time, money, and energy that were being poured out in preparation for this one-day event. It was staggering to contemplate. For months the endless details of this ornate wedding were painstakingly planned out and worked through. The bride and groom had to select their bridesmaids and groomsmen and then set to work at selecting those for the guest list. The only consolation for this difficult task was that while only 1,900 people could be invited (incidentally, my invitation must have been lost in the mail), those who didn’t make the final list could always watch it on television (which perhaps another two billion people did according to most recent counts). The bride’s dress had to be designed, created, and altered to fit perfectly. Similar albeit less meticulous planning went into the attire to be worn by the rest of the wedding party. Music was reviewed, selected, and integrated into the service, and then the choirs, band, and orchestra had to be chosen. Floral designers were interviewed and eventually one was selected for the task of transforming Westminster Abbey into a midsummer night’s eve, which was done by spending nearly a million dollars for not only flowers, but also an avenue of 20-foot tall trees that were brought in to line the main aisle of the church. Even without going over the time and energy it took for planning the wedding cake, the invitations, the programs, the photographers, the menus for the reception and dinner, etc., I think we can start to see the enormity of effort put into making certain this one special day worked out so wonderfully.

All these preparations (and more) had to be done, and they had to be done in a timely manner because the wedding date was set … and time waits for no man. What if the bride hadn’t stayed focused and instead spent most of her time shopping, going to soccer games, or attending polo matches? The wedding would have come just the same. The only difference would have been that the bride wouldn’t have been ready. What if she had grown weary of all the preparation and decided to “take it easy and unwind”? She might have slept away her only chance to be ready for “the wedding of a lifetime.”

As the bride of Christ, we have each been invited to the most glorious wedding in all eternity. We are not to marry a prince from England, but the King of all kings! While Britain’s royal wedding cost more than 35 million dollars, the wedding of the Lamb came at an even greater cost — the pure and precious life of the Son of God.

The Word of God says, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready”(Revelation 19:7). Beloved, these are days of preparation. There are many things each of us needs to work on and work through before the Lord’s return. We dare not slumber away the time we have been given. We have a royal wedding for which to prepare. The day has been set, and we, as the bride of Christ, need to make certain that all they preparations have been made. The Lord is returning for “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26). Are we willing to pour out our lives — our time, energy, and money — to make ourselves ready for the Lord’s return? Or will we let the pressures of our society and the pleasures of life lull us into lethargy? May we awaken to the challenge of being a bride who is prepared and ready for her Bridegroom — a bride who is able to join with the cry of the Holy Spirit and say to Him, “Come.”