5 Dec 2009
Worth the Wait
by Michael Fortson, Minister
Canyon Creek Church of Christ, Temple, TX
I remember cramming four children, and our basset hound into the station wagon with my wife and driving 500 miles to the grand parents house for Christmas. Getting everybody in, along with luggage, then hiding all the gifts on top, covered with a tarp, was always a challenge but the trip was made even more difficult with the constant refrain of "are we there yet?" We’ve all been there, haven’t we?
Have you ever thought of how much of your life is spent waiting? We wait to get there, we wait in the check-out lines at the supermarket, we wait to be served at restaurants, we wait at the Doctor’s office, we wait at traffic lights, we wait in traffic jams, and we wait for husbands or wives to get home. Someone said that waiting has been around since the beginning of time. A not so accurate report indicates that Adam spent a fair amount of time waiting on Eve. "Come on, Babe. Aren’t you ready yet?" asked Adam. "Not yet," Eve replied. "Does this leaf make me look fat?"
To answer the earlier question, an article in the National Catholic Reporter estimates that we spend 62 minutes a day just waiting! In an average 70 years life span, that totals to about 3 years!
So, now we are waiting for Christmas to get here. Kids can’t wait to see what Santa will bring, teachers can’t wait till school is dismissed for the holidays, and families which haven’t seen each other for a year, can’t wait till they are together again!
Even in Bible times people waited. Abraham and Sarah had to wait until they were aged for a special son of promise. The children of Israel waited 400 years to be delivered from Egyptian bondage. And the people of the Old Testament waited expectantly for a Messiah. Do you know how long they waited for the Messiah? If we take Genesis 3:15 as the first messianic prophecy, and if we just count up the listed years from Adam till Christ, it was about 4000 years! But the Jewish people had been waiting over 700 years since the great prophecies of Isaiah 7:14, "The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." But none of those things happened until it was the right time. Galatians 4:4, "...when the time had fully come, God sent his Son..." The world had to wait for the right time for Jesus to come. It is true that God has a timing of his own, and He will not be hurried. Ecc. 3:11,
"He has made everything beautiful in its time."
Do we mind waiting when we know it will be worth it? People stand in line for two hours to get a two minute ride at Six Flags, but they say it’s worth it! Others camp out to get front row seats to a special concert because its worth it. Some of us waited a year or more to get married, but it was worth it. Waiting for Jesus to come was certainly worth it. Eph. 1:3 tells us that we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. More blessings than we can count... things like... forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God and His people, receiving His Holy Spirit, the power to live better and act better toward each other, the power to love the unlovely and to forgive the unforgivable. And we are still waiting for that final reward when Jesus comes back to take us home with him.
Sometimes the wait becomes tiring, but we have to remember that its worth the wait. What are you waiting for right now? A lost child to come home? An unfaithful mate to change? A diagnosis to come in? A phone call for a job? Hold on... We are told that good things come to those who wait. The Bible puts it this way, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)
And we are exhorted to wait patiently. "Be patient, then brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near." James 5: 7 - 8.
While we get tired of waiting, have you ever thought about God is waiting for you? "He [God] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." II Peter 3:9. So, He is patiently waiting for you to come to Him so that He can bless you and save you. Is it a good thing to keep God waiting? And here is the really great thing... when you decide to come to God, there is no waiting! He is at the door of your heart ready for you to open and let him in.
Michael Fortson
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