One of the hardest things in life is to wait. And yet our eternal life depends on it!
I hate waiting. Don’t you? I am sometimes late to the meetings and appointments simply because I hate waiting. I hate the feeling of wasting my time by getting there early and waiting until the meeting starts. And yet, the christian life consists largely of waiting. Waiting for Christ, that is.
“Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” Luke 12:35-36
Waiting requires time and remembering. In other words, waiting communicates value of that which we wait for. A child eagerly waits for the Christmas morning. A man waits for his wedding day. A woman waits for her husband to come home from deployment. A student waits for the Thanksgiving break! All these communicate value. We wait for that which is valuable to us.
So, the way we wait or don’t wait for Christ’s return communicates our value-judgment about Christ. If we truly value Him above all else, then we WILL wait eagerly for His return no matter how good life gets here on earth. (We will never say “heaven can wait.”)
It makes sense for Jesus to assign our eternal destination according to whether we have waited for Him or not. If we have not waited for Him, that meant that we never really valued Him. We cannot not value Him if He is our Savior and Master.
Are you waiting for His return? How does your daily life reflect it?
PH