Please Prepare Yourself: You Will Be Seated With Others

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.”
— Colossians 3:12-13

If you hurt my family, I do not quickly forgive nor forget. Make no mistake, I can hold a grudge. And I can unleash fury. Especially with my words. I’m extremely protective of my family. And then comes that moment…

This past week, I saw an individual who hurt some of my family. I believe people can change, especially when they find Christ. But there they were, and of all things, they were wearing a shirt that read, “Jesus is King.” I knew they had been making changes in their life, but really!?

Later that day, I was out with my family enjoying an evening at the fair. As all the grand-kiddos lined up for the Ferris Wheel, I saw a sign at the entrance. It read: “Please Prepare Yourself: You Will Be Seated With Others.” Immediately, God brought to mind the event earlier in the day.

Ferris wheel my family rode at the fair

Actual sign on the ferris wheel

The Ferris Wheel has that sign because we live in such an easily “triggered” society they don’t want people to freak out when they are put in a car with other people they don’t know. They just want people to know they might be taking this ride with others they don’t get to choose.

However, for me, it was an intense spiritual moment. God was reminding me that I’m on the ride of my life into eternity and I’d better be preparing to be seated with others I don’t get to choose. You know “those” people: the one’s I can stand, the annoying, the loud talkers and the close talkers, the revolting, the despicable—all the ragamuffins just like me. As our verse today admonishes: forgive them.

Tickets to the eternal ride are given to all those who hold Jesus Christ as their Lord. They are not vetted by how well I get along with them. My approval or disapproval is irrelevant. Every offense I hold against them could just as easily be held against me.

I stood starring at that sign realizing there are no first class seats to heaven. They are all coach. They are all equal. Because the ticket was purchased through the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Everyone’s boarding pass is the same, receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He doesn’t hand out peanuts on this trip, you get the full meal to sustain you—the Bread of Life. His life.

1 John 4:7-8 tells us, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Those words are easy to sing (as in the song created from the verse), but they are hot coals from the forge when confronted with someone who has brought pain into your life. Yet, the forge is where the Master Blacksmith shapes us into who we were created to be. It is where we are shaped, sharpened and perfected by the Lord working through our lives.

Love is not a feeling. It is awesome when the feeling accompanies it, but it is more. Love is an action. “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) No emotions mentioned except those that love is not. Love is an action.

Eternity is all about Christ and not about us. It is about who He is, not our comfort. So, please, prepare yourself: you will be seated with others. Love them. For in the end, all Christians sit together with another—Our Father—who “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” (Ephesians 2:6).

© 2026 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.