“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
Luke 12:35-38

Dear God, I grew up in a period of the late 20th century when rapture talk was very prevalent. I went to a private school for part of sixth grade, and they showed us the movie A Thief in the Night which was about people who experienced the Tribulation because they missed the Rapture. Now that I think about it, I had a New Testament class in college and I remember the professor spending some time on theology debates between the Rapture being pre-Tribulation or post-Tribulation.

Recently, I heard a podcast that discussed how many children in the 80s and and 90s were scared into faith through Tribulation-Gospel. One woman talked about a friend whose family staged a Rapture to show her what it would feel like if she were “left behind” (which happens to be the name of a fictional Christian book and eventual movie series of the time that focused on all of this). She came in and everyone was gone. Things were left undone (e.g. pile of clothes, water running, etc.). She was terrified. And it worked. It put her over the edge in her decision to submit to you and accept Jesus and his grace. But was it the right thing to do?

Back to this passage, I simply can’t live my life with the idea that I’m doing it for the day of the Rapture. That motivator wouldn’t work for more than a week or two. No, I need to see something deeper. For me, it’s about being ready through my relationship with you for anything that might come my way. It’s about attaching my branch to your vine and experiencing your peace in any given moment. It’s about giving the Holy Spirit good soil in my heart to grow the fruit you need me to have for my sake and the sakes of those around me. It’s about putting me in position to hear your still, small voice. It’s about keeping me from sin and clinging to your mercy when I fail. No, it’s not for the Rapture/Second Coming. My readiness is for whatever life might bring me today. Help me to be ready.

I pray all of this through Jesus name,

Amen