About Time (Friday Devotional)

 

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

- 2 Peter 3:9

Now that my kids are past the stage where we carry them everywhere, they’re responsible for getting themselves loaded up in the car. We shout out, “TIME TO GO!!!” and it’s their job to gather whatever supplies they think they need (snacks, water bottles, books, stuffies), get in their car seats, and buckle up.

Unfortunately that means 9 times out of 10, I spend a lot of time drumming the steering wheel waiting for them. Sometimes it’s because they can’t find their shoes. Sometimes it’s because they forgot their water bottles. And most times, it’s just because they don’t feel the urgency I do and they’re dawdling. So I find myself moving into drill sergeant mode, ‘encouraging’ them to hurry up and get moving.

But there was one day recently when that backfired on me. I was sitting in the driver’s seat, waiting for them to get buckled, and I wasn’t shy about my impatience.  I was rushing them, I was scolding them, the whole nine yards. And when they were finally both buckled, I pressed the power button to start the car and…nothing happened. Turns out, I had left the key fob inside. I ran in to retrieve it, slammed the door shut as I climbed back in the driver’s seat, and received my well-deserved medicine from my 6-year-old son: “I guess this time you weren’t ready, huh, Daddy?”

Waiting isn’t easy for anybody, whether it’s for something as minor as getting in the car or something far more important. Since the first century, Christians have been waiting for the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to return for his followers, to usher in a new heaven and a new earth where sin and death are banished forever and all things are made new. With faith and hope, we look forward to that day, trusting in the promise that Christ said it will come “soon.”

But even weeks after Christ’s ascension, “soon” wasn’t coming soon enough for some. And now, almost 2000 years later, many are even more impatient for the Lord’s return, crying out with John the Revelator, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” It certainly seems like Jesus is taking his sweet time, like he’s slow to keep his promise.

But Scripture offers us another perspective—the Lord’s delay isn’t meant to hurt us, but to help us. The reason “soon” hasn’t come sooner isn’t because Jesus is slow to keep his promises, but because he wants to give as many people as possible the opportunity to receive his grace. The issue is not a lack of faithfulness on his part, but rather his patience with us.

In other words, while we are yelling at Jesus to hurry it up, we’ve still got unfinished business on our end. So as we wait, may we tend to that business faithfully and patiently—because “soon” will be here before we know it. May we be found ready when it does.