TODAY… We Wait

I don’t like to wait. Can you relate to that? Once I know where I want to go or what I want to eat or what I want regarding anything… - I want it to happen NOW! I don’t like when I hit all the red stoplights and I don’t like when there is a long line at the drive-thru. I want an immediate response and I want all my projects to move along quickly towards a perfect completion. It is pretty easy to see that if that is what I expect from life I will find myself disappointed quite often.
 
Even though I don’t care much for waiting, I have been able to adjust my outlook to this reality of life so that I don’t go crazy or become an ogre to be around. One thing I find a bit interesting about myself is that, although I hate waiting, I really enjoy anticipating. For nearly 25 years Barb has put up with my near obsession with forcing her into my “celebratory anticipation” of things that I am looking forward to happening.
 
Here is what I mean by “celebratory anticipation.” Barb and I will be having dinner together talking over the day’s activities for the kick-off of the school year and I will, out of the blue, bring up the need to get new flip flops for walking on the beach in February’s trip to Florida. Or…

• On a cooler than usual evening in August I’m starting to think of cutting Christmas trees. “Barb, are we going with Fraser Firs again? After all, it is only 141 days until Christmas!”
• After chipping ice off the driveway in January I rush into the house. I exclaim to Barb, “Should we use blocks of ice for camping this summer or should we stick with cubes?”
• While clearing the Easter dinner dishes I ask Barb, “Are you going to make the green bean casserole for Thanksgiving dinner this year?”

 
I mention this distinction in my mind between regular “waiting” and “anticipating” because it helps us to consider the theme for this Sunday’s message: Today…We Wait. The actual text of Hebrews 9:27-28 reads as follows –
 
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
 
This generates some questions for us:

• How do we eagerly wait for Jesus?
• How do we live our days here and now, while anticipating the wonderful home that awaits us?
• How do we live fully engaged in our life on earth, while at the same time rejoicing in the fact that heaven is our primary residence through Jesus even now?
• How does this eternal hope impact how we deal with life’s complexities today?

 
These are some of the thoughts that come to mind for me when I think of eagerly waiting to meet Jesus. I look forward to considering this topic with you on Sunday.
 
Anticipating Home while Enjoying Today,
Pastor Nick