Waiting to Wait Some More!

This week I’ve had to take care of some business with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). (Yes, you can begin to feel sorry for me now!) Without getting into all the details of all the going back and forth to MVC this past week, I returned this morning, about 30 minutes before they opened to find that there were already about 50 people on the line that I needed to get on. That’s when the waiting began. 

I first I had to wait until the MVC opened. I then had to wait until it was my turn to be let into the building. Once I was in, I had to wait on a line to give the woman behind the desk my cell phone number. I was then told to leave and wait for a text message that would tell me when to come back, so that I could enter the building again and wait for my number to be called.  In essence, I waited and waited so that I could be called back to wait again! 

If you know me, you know waiting is not my strong point.  But to wait so that I can be told to wait some more is really beyond my waiting capacity!  Yet, there was nothing I could do about it. All I could do was wait and wait…and wait some more.

We all know life is filled with all kinds of waiting. We wait on supermarket lines. We wait to get into a sports arena. We wait to hear back from a potential employer. We wait to hear back from the school we applied to. We wait for the results from the doctor’s office. And the list goes on.  So often—we might say, too often—we have no choice but to wait. Thus, we wait. 

But did you know that our faith as Christians also requires us to wait? The Apostle Paul wrote to the Roman believers about our waiting as followers of Jesus Christ.  Paul spoke of how we as believers “…groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:23)  He then goes on to write, “Who hopes for what they already have?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”  (Romans 8:25) Notice his words regarding our waiting.  We groan while we wait (we all relate to that!).  We are eager while we wait as we look forward to the fulfillment of all God has promised us.  And we must be patient as we wait. Ah...there it is! The patience that waiting requires—just what we are usually missing!  

 

As followers of Jesus, we have been promised so many good things: redemption, the resurrection of our bodies, and a new kingdom in which there is no more sorrow and pain. We’ve been promised that one day we will live forever in the presence of our heavenly Father. We as followers of Jesus Christ have been given so many wonderful promises in Christ, but they are promises that have not yet been fulfilled, thus we wait eagerly and patiently, believing that God will be faithful to do for us all he has promised to do.  

 

I want to encourage you today to continue to believe God, as you wait for him to fulfill all he has promised us through Christ our Savior! And know he will not make you wait just to make you wait some more!

Have a great day!

- Pastor Tim Harris