"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
— John 14:3 (NIV)
You have been reducing yourself to your usefulness again. Measuring your worth by what you produce, whether you are holding it together well enough. It is an exhausting way to live and it is not sustainable. It is also not how the Bridegroom sees you.
Jesus does not say He is coming back for His workforce or His project. He says He is coming back to take you to Himself. That word take in John 14:3 is the language of a groom claiming his bride. He is not collecting a servant but returning for the one He loves.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that we will one day see face to face. Not partially, not at a distance, but fully known and fully seeing. The Bridegroom is not returning for an event or a destination. He is coming back to finally have His bride with Him where He is.
We have spent so long being useful that we forgot we are loved. We serve and give and show up, quietly hoping the output justifies our place. We have mistaken the relationship for a job and the covenant for a contract. The Bridegroom did not pay a bride-price for an employee.
When did you last receive this promise as something personal rather than theological? Sit with the words "take you to myself" and let them land somewhere specific. He is not coming back for the version of you that has everything sorted. He is coming back for you, exactly as He has always known you.
Godseekers, the Bridegroom coming back for you already knows every room of who you are. He is not returning because you finally got it right. He is coming back because He said He would and because He wants you. That is not a theological position but a love story, and you are in it.
Prayer
Risen Lord, You are the God who comes back for what belongs to You. You are not returning for a crowd or a concept but for a people You have called by name. We bring You the ones in our lives who do not yet know they are the object of this kind of love. Someone we know is still measuring their worth by what they produce, still wondering if there is a place for them. Let the truth of this covenant reach them today. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Personal Reflection
- In what specific way have you been relating to God more like an employee than a bride, and what would it look like to receive His return as something personal rather than positional?
- Think of one person in your family or close circle who does not yet know they are loved this specifically by the Bridegroom who is coming back. What is one concrete step you can take this week to carry that news to them?
Step of Faith
Today, tell one specific person what God has done for you this week. Not a general testimony. One specific thing, one specific person, face to face or by message. The Bridegroom who is coming back for you has already been at work. Say it out loud to someone.
