Beyond Me - Part 12: Interview with Kathi Macias

Continuing the interview with Kathi Macias, author of the new book Beyond Me: Living a You-First Life in a Me-First World (New Hope, 2008):

On page 176, while talking about the marriage between the Bride—which is the church universal, collectively all Christians—and the Bridegroom—who is Jesus the Christ, you wrote: “And as the return of our Bridegroom draws breathtakingly near, the pace of preparation intensifies.”

What do you see that causes to you believe the return of Jesus Christ is “breathtakingly near”?

KM: Now we get into that exciting but easily misused area of prophecy again. Do I believe we are now closer to the return of Jesus Christ than we were a thousand years ago, or a hundred years ago—or yesterday? Of course I do. In fact, the Scriptures state that very thing, that now “we are closer than when we first believed.” And I can’t help but observe the “signs of the times,” as the Bible calls them, when I see the many things going on around the world. However, I’m a bit uneasy trying to take those occurrences and fit them into sections of Scripture to prove that Jesus is about to return at any moment. Could He? Jesus is God; He can do anything He wants! He can come back today—or not. And He Himself said that “no one knows the day or the hour.” The important thing is that the bride-to-be in the Jewish wedding customs, once she was engaged, spent her time preparing for her bridegroom’s return, never doubting that he would come for her at just the right moment. That should be our focus—anxiously and faithfully preparing for His return and never doubting that He will come “in the fullness of time”—on His time schedule, not ours.

What preparations are intensifying in pace?

KM: God is calling His people to holiness and integrity, to passionate love for Jesus, rather than lukewarm faith that offers lip service and little else. That is the most significant preparation that I see as we prepare for our Bridegroom’s return.