Anyone else tired of waiting?
My daughter does not wait well. She is very much an in the moment kind of girl. If she wants something she wants it now, in the moment, for immediate enjoyment. And when she has received it she is ready for the next thing. We went to visit my folks over the 4th this July. One of the activities we were looking forward too was floating down the river. Lorelai was really excited to get in the truck to go. Then she was really excited to get there for the entirety of the 20 minute drive. Then she was excited to get in the boat. Once we were in the boat she wanted to be floating and once we were floating she wanted the next "bumpy water" and before long she wanted to know when we would get back to the car. She did give in and enjoy the float, the bumpy water, and paddling us around in circles.
Oh and here's another one, as soon as one cartoon is over she wants me to find her a new show even though there will be another one as soon as the commercial is over. She just can't wait through the commercial. She wants the new show now in this moment!
She is not all that different from her dad or the rest of us really. We want the next thing now. We are looking for the fulfillment of our lives, appetites, or attention spans.
I am beginning to realize from Hebrews chapter 11 what Lorelai and I might be needing to learn is not so much patience as it is faith. As we cruise through the lives of those in chapter 11 we see they did great things by faith for sure. Noah built an ark by faith, Abraham left his home by faith, the judges conquered armies by faith. But the fuller explanation of faith seems to be the assurance of what has not happened yet. They do all these things looking forward the the city of God not yet built, looking forward to the messiah who has not yet come, to the promise yet to come.
I have to ask myself as I live my daily life, do I live based on the promise yet to come? We talk about telling the world the good news of Jesus so we will see him come. When we finish this task then the end will come. So we need to get busy, time must not be wasted we have got to get this done. But I have to ask is this really what Jesus meant? Did the actions of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Moses, Enoch bring the coming of the messiah any closer? Did they do the things they did in order to get the messiah to come sooner? The answer is no, they really didn't. Moses tried to get the exodus going early by killing that Egyptian slave master, but that didn't work out either. God has his time line in mind. He knows when things will happen. It does not seem we will be changing his time lines any time soon.
So we act as those in the hall of faith in Hebrews chap. 11 do, by faith rather than for results to be brought about on our own effort. We are still waiting for Jesus to come the second time and complete salvation delivering us from a broken world just as those in the past have been waiting. But its not so much about being patient or finishing a task as much as it is faith and trust in the one who gave us the task. He will come through and so we live as if we actually trust him to do so. We faithfully do the things he asks us to do simply because we trust him and he asked us to do them.
May our lives be deepened in the moment by living in faithful assurance of the one who created the universe, shaped the lives of those before us, and will keep his promise to come again.
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