Good Morning All,
John 14:6; “And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may
be also.”
Some of you may remember, or at least
remember, the story of Gen. Douglas MacArthur when he was leaving the
Philippines. As the Japanese troops were about to overrun the islands, he said
to the people who were there, “I shall return.”
A few years later, when the United States armed forces returned to the
Philippines he stated, “I have returned.”
It took a few tries to get it good enough for the news reels. But he did come back. For those of you who are somewhat younger, you
might remember the Terminator telling everyone, “I’ll be back.”
The promise to return is one of the
greatest promises a loved one can make.
The promise to return to the ones whom we love is a very powerful ideal
to hold to. There are numerous stories
of soldiers who fought on with only the dream of returning home as the driving
motivation. It is also strong motivation
for those who are waiting for that loved one to return. You remember the last thing they told you,
you remember the last time you touched each other and the tenderness of the
moment. So you wait for them to
return. You hold onto that promise to be
fulfilled.
That is where we are, we are waiting for
Jesus to return. He returned to his
throne in heaven with the promise that he would come again and take you to
himself. This is what we look forward
to. We wait with joyful anticipation for
Jesus to return. For when he returns, he
will restore creation to its original state of perfection and completion.
This is what Advent is really about; we
are looking forward to Jesus’ return. We
pray for it in the Lord’s Prayer: “thy kingdom come”. It is what we long for because it is at this
time that all pain and sorrow, all sadness and weariness will disappear. This is when we will be raised with our
glorified bodies to live in eternal bliss with our Savior. So Advent is about waiting for the return of
Jesus. We wait with joyful expectation
that Jesus will keep his promise.
We are to be a people who look forward to
the coming of Jesus. We wait excitedly but we continue to live the life that is
laid out before us but we look forward to tomorrow, to the tomorrow when Jesus
returns. Yet we know our future is
secure. So we can use the time here on
earth doing those things which God enables us to do. We can go about caring for our neighbor and
caring for creation. These are two very
God-pleasing activities. We can do this
while we wait for Jesus to return and to take us home.
Dearest Lord Jesus, we anxiously wait for you to
return and bring to completion the restoration of creation to perfection. While we wait, use us to bring peace and
comfort to those who need it and to share your wondrous word of salvation. Help us to reach out to the lost and the
hurting. We especially ask that you give
the comfort to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are experiencing pain
at this time. Remind them that it is only temporary. In Your precious name we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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