A teenager asked me this unexpected question, “How do we prepare for the coming of Christ?”

“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory never desires for anyone to perish, but for all to come to eternal life. Now this is eternal life: that they KNOW the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom God has sent.” (John 17:3)

To prepare for the coming of Christ can only be achieved BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. It is not by works lest man should boast. Salvation comes when we BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He accomplished at the cross 2000 years ago. He came because of God’s great love for mankind. It is He Who cleansed and washed away all our sins by the power of His blood that we can come boldly before Him, confident and sure that we will be accepted and approved and never rejected. It is He Who called us to be His holy habitation, the temple of the Holy Spirit, Who enables and anoints us both to will and to do what is right and just. Left on our own ability, it is an impossibility.

“[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.” Philippians 2:13 AMPC

When Jesus came and shed His blood at the cross, He paid for all our unrighteousness once and for all. He was not looking for people who were perfect, pleasing and deserving. In truth He said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17 NKJV ) What makes us think then that we need to do ALL the right things and be self righteous by our self effort for us to be accepted and pleasing before Him?

He did not come to condemn the world and leave us in a hopeless state. God sent Jesus because He SOOOO LOVE the world. He provided THE WAY, the eternal redemptive solution to give us HOPE and a GOOD FUTURE!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV

He came even if He knew that not all people would believe Him. He came even if some people perceive it foolishness to believe Who He is and what He did. But, nothing stopped Him. His love is so great. His mercy enduring. His amazing grace drove Him to the cross so you and I can walk and talk with Him in a cool of the day anytime, anywhere without reproach. He prepared a feast of His abundance of grace and the GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS for us to partake.

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)” Romans 5:17 NKJV

Biblical righteousness is a GIFT! We do not work for it. It is unmerited, unearned and undeserved, thus, it takes FAITH to receive.

How then do we prepare for His coming? The increase of the kingdom of God knows no end, thus, what I think and share may just be a drop in a bucket.

“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) Will He find people who walk BY FAITH and NOT BY SIGHT? Will He find men who believe that Jesus is the Son of the Living God sent to the world to save us, to redeem us from the curse of the law, to destroy the works of the enemy, to heal us, to deliver us from all destruction, to prosper us and not to harm us, to give us life and have it more abundantly? Will He find men who follow Him as the Good Shepherd?

His Word says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6) Will He find you and I believing in Him and living our lives in Him, with Him and for Him, praying, praising and worshiping Him?

I believe, the most vital way to prepare is to believe what He has written in His word: “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

When we make Jesus our Lord and Savior, we become partakers of His divine nature. Our right believing will always empower us to our right living. Our BEING the righteousness of God in Christ will always precede our DOING right. It is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God.

We are to be the salt and light of the earth, BLESSED to be a BLESSING, LOVED to LOVE. Our lives are to be diffusers of God’s love flowing in and through us.

We love because HE FIRST LOVED US. (1 John 4:19)

No one can comprehend the love of Christ by the way we humanly understand. It takes the strength with power through the Holy Spirit will we be able to experientially know the magnificence of His love.

“That according to the riches of his glory He may grant you to be STRENGTHENED WITH POWER THROUGH HIS SPIRIT in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may HAVE THE STRENGTH TO COMPREHEND with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19 ESV

His agape love is foolishness to those who do not believe. The powerful demonstration of His love for you and me through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a stumbling block to them who do not believe. But for us who do, IT IS THE POWER OF SALVATION!

Why is this so? Because men’s default is to take credit for what we do. But the GOSPEL of PEACE, wherein God our Father offered to us a “TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE” way of reconciliation and restoration, requiring NOTHING from us but FAITH. And mind you, even our faith is a given gift.

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the FAITH GOD HAS GIVEN US.” (Romans 12:3 NLT)

Apart from Him, we can do nothing worthy of what He has called us to be, let alone the ability to do it, but with Him, we can be “unstoppable carriers of His love”. We are to love one another and only by this gesture of love will people know that we are belong to Him.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 NKJV

Will He find love then when He comes back?

God IS love. Because that’s Who He is, then that’s what He does.

When His divine nature that He called us to be partakers of is resident and active in our lives when the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and that nature is of LOVE, then we ought to walk in LOVE.

“ALL THAT MATTERS NOW is living in the FAITH that is activated and brought to perfection by LOVE.” Galatians 5:6 TPT