WAITING AND ENDURING

 

 

A hyper-Pentecostal, while leading a crusade of many thousands, had boasted, “No one will leave today unchanged.” However, the Christian life is about waiting in hope for something we do not yet possess:

 

·       1 Peter 1:13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation [the return] of Jesus Christ.

 

·       Romans 8:22–24 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?

 

This life will not fulfill our hope. Instead, we must await the Savior’s return:

 

·       Hebrews 13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

 

 Abraham waited for 25 years for his promised heir—Isaac. Along the way, he experienced many setbacks. Yet according to God, he was hoping for an eternal city (Hebrews 11:8-10), as Jesus had done:

 

·       Hebrews 12:2–3 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

 

We too must patiently endure:

 

·       Hebrews 11:27 By faith he [Moses] left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

 

Endurance requires waiting and courage. It requires us to understand that not all our immediate needs will be met:

 

·       1 Peter 2:19–20 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.

 

Waiting produces character and endurance:

·       Romans 5:3–5 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

 

Waiting amid suffering also makes us Christlike:

 

·       2 Corinthians 4:10–11 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

 

Western Christians often expect that immediate needs will always be satisfied. Instead, it is according to our Lord’s timing:

 

·       1 Peter 5:6–7,10 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you…And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

 

His work is assured:

 

·       Romans 8:31–32 …If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

 

Therefore, we can wait patiently:

 

·       Psalm 27:13–14 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

 

Therefore, do not be seduced by the false teaching that we can have it all—healings and various blessings here and now. Instead, we are being prepared for eternity:

·       2 Corinthians 4:17–18 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.