Till We Are Home

Late at night, you can sometimes find my dog eagerly waiting at the back door for my son to come home. The rest of us could be sitting around the living room, but if my son is not home, my dog will be anxiously awaiting his arrival. Then, when my son texts to say he’s coming home and we announce this to the rest of us, my dog will jump up, look around, and pace at the back door and windows just waiting for the familiar sounds that my son indeed arrived home.

“Why?” you may ask…well, of course the dog loves the boy…but, also, my son works at a very familiar coffee chain that serves pup cups. On the nights he remembers to do so, my son will bring a pup cup home from work. When he enters the house, our dog is right there furiously wagging his tail and excitedly looking for that all-too-familiar little white cup filled with what would seem to be the world’s finest delicacy.

The sadness of my son’s absence in the home is easily overcome in my dog’s eager waiting and final delivery of a reward.

What is our posture in a similar situation (albeit, though, on a much grander scale) as we wait for Christ’s return? Are we as eager or more for Him to return and bring us home? Do we wait for Him with our eagerness stoked more and more when we hear news that His return is coming?

The author of Hebrews said the following, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Heb 9:27-28)

Christ will appear a second time to save those who eagerly wait for Him. 

Eagerly waiting for Christ. In a sort of crude way, are we eagerly waiting for Christ to come back like my dog waits for my son?

Do we see Christ as most glorious and His presence, His nearness being our highest good? Are we excited to one day behold Him face-to-face, even at the cost of foregoing some of, if not all this world’s pleasures? Is our waiting for Him eager? And, why should our waiting for His return be a waiting marked by eagerness? For several reasons, I believe.

Jesus is worthy of our worship and eager waiting: Revelation 5:12, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

Nothing and no one is greater than Christ: Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Everything we could possibly want, all blessings are ours in Him: Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,”

Not only have we been saved through Him, but we no longer dwell in darkness but in His great and glorious light: 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We are saved only through Jesus: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Through Christ, we are brought into the family of God: John 1:12-13, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Finally, in Him we become heirs of all that God has for us: Romans 8:17, “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

We eagerly wait for the Lord because Jesus is worthy of our eager anticipation. We have nothing higher, nothing better than Him. And, the things of this world are not worth comparing to Him…they are not worth diminishing our eager anticipation of His return. So we have the positive reasons that Christ is worthy of our affections…and, we have the negative reasons as well that the life we live and value is not more worthy than Him.

Here is where suffering plays a part.

As that last verse shares, there is a role that suffering plays as heirs of God. For many reasons, we suffer as Christians. In our suffering, though, we at least see that this world is not worth as much as we typically value it. I feel many of us can value the things of this world, this life here and now over and above God…not yet wanting Him to return. We want to get married. We want to have children. We want to be a success. We want to die old and gray and comfortably. 

“Wait, Lord,” we say. “Wait, don’t come back, yet…I want to see more of this or to have that happen and live a full life here. Then, I’ll be happy and would be happy for you to return.”

We deceive ourselves in finding our highest good in the good gifts of the Lord, or at least the good gifts we think we should receive. Instead of finding our all in Christ, we seek first treasures here on earth. We are too easily amused…a people who take joy in making mud pies in the slums when a holiday at the sea awaits us as CS Lewis once said.

God uses suffering to open our eyes to the reality of our idolatry in this life and tear down these idols. Through suffering, our faith is purified like gold for the dross is removed and we find Christ more lovely and glorious resulting in our greater praise of Him (1 Pet 1:6-7).

Because Jesus is unbelievably worthy of our praise and glory and honor…because this world is proven not to be what we sinfully value it to be…we should look more to Him as our sole source of joy, happiness, and worth. So much so that we eagerly wait for His return so we can be with Him forever and be saved to the uttermost. Greater than a pup waiting for his master and a reward, may we be found eagerly waiting for our Lord…

Till we are home…