Strength & honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in the time to come.~ Proverbs 31:25 (KJV)
For sure one of my all time favourite Scriptures of all time.
To me this verse is a reminder that there is always hope for the future. But more so, it is a reminder of Who holds the future. And thirdly, it's also a reminder to me that we have to prepare ourselves for the times that's coming.
We live in a world where the majority of "christians" go to church to receive a good message, something pleasing to the ear, another grace message taken completely out of context so that we can justify our sins.
When in fact, if we as "Christians" were to stop making idols of our pastors & preachers and get back to studying the Word of God for ourselves. It won't take long for us to realise that many of the doctrines taught by mainstream Christians & churches do not line up with the Bible. At All.
But behold the person who makes a statement like the one I'm making. Then that person has lost their marbles or became "too"... Well, regardless of mankind's opinion - the only One who will be able to judge if I became "too" will be the Father Himself one day. I would rather be "too" warm than "too" lukewarm. And I would much rather stand alone with the Father and experience worldly judgement, than standing with the world and having to face the Father's judgement one day.
The Word is full of prompts for us to turn away from the world and back to the Father. We all know the parable about the 5 wise virgins and the 5 unwise virgins. The parable was not about 5 virgins and 5 prostitutes. The word virgin was used to describe a clean bride, set apart. In today's terms we can probably call them the 5 wise christians and the 5 unwise christians. Not the 5 christians and the 5 unbelievers.
You see, 5 of those virgins thought they were ready for the bridal ceremony - but they did not prepare adequately in advance. And the result was that they missed out on the wedding. That struck me right between the eyes the first time I realised the extent of what is written in that parable. How many of us think that we are ready because we do all the right things? We go to church, we call ourselves christians, we are involved in good christian like things... But are we really willing to measure ourselves up against the Word of God? Are we willing to weigh up our church beliefs against the Word of God? Are we willing to prepare ourselves - the way the Father asks of us in His Word? Are we willing to take a stand against christian like things when we realise that it does not align with the Word?
The Bible is playing out right in front of our eyes. The Scriptures don't carry any less value in our lives in today's time than what it did back in the time when it was written. Every person will have to decide for themselves - playing church or becoming the Bride of Christ. The opportunity is there for everyone, but only a few are willing to let go of worldly standards to pursue the Father.