Anticipation.

Lately in my Bible study with the girlies I have been talking to them about Watchfulness.

Taken from that passage in Luke (Chapter 12), the gist of it is this:

Be ready, spiritually dressed, serving in the capacity he had created and called you to serve in, for the Lord will come back like a thief in the night, and “it will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns” (verse 43).

Another thought that goes with this is similar; it’s how we are supposed to live in this “waiting” time. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been trusted with much, much more will be asked.” (12:48)

See, we are told be on the lookout for the return of Christ. It’s coming, and it will come when we least expect it. Yet we are not to be idle in this time of anticipation.

Then of course the girls wanted to know about spiritual gifts, for surely those are some things we have been called to employ while we wait, so for fun I gave them one of those spiritual gifts inventories.

I was glad to find out that I have every spiritual gift.

Ha.

Bahahah! 

Yeah, not quite.

Anyway, it was fun, and they were so excited to be like, “Ok, well this one is mine, so how do I use it?!”

Yet, somehow, helping their mother make a meal plan was not necessarily what they had in mind : )

But as I have been teaching on this I have just been struck by how sorely mistaken I have lived my life since….well…since forever.

See, the deal is this: I have been anticipating the wrong thing.

So often in my life I am looking towards the future. Or rather I anticipate events that I think are going to be in the future.

Stuff with my business is going to happen, I will move here and there, travel to that place I have never been, get married, do whatever project I have always wanted to do, maybe have some kids, start a different business, speak at that conference, etc etc etc blah blah blah.

And all of that stuff is great and fine and wonderful—if that’s what the Lord gives. It’s also great and fine and wonderful if he doesn’t give it, because here is the catch: that is all kind of “filler” stuff if you think about it. I mean, ok, in comparison to, let’s say, JESUS COMING BACK all that other stuff is like “Yeah yeah whatever.”

This is just the stuff we are supposed to do and gifted to do in the “waiting period.”

Yet, I spend so much of my time anticipating, planning on, and waiting for the filler stuff and not the big show! Does that make sense? I think I do this because, if I am being honest, most of my days it doesn’t even cross my mind that HE IS COMING AGAIN. And while I think I am pretty good with keeping Jesus in my mind and as my motivation, I still totally get caught up in all the stuff of this world. And I worry about it, fret that it’s not happening the way it should…forgetting about the greatest thing that is ever going to happen post-resurrection.

When Jesus comes back for his bride.

I am not trying to start a discussion about end-times stuff here. There are other bloggers who do that. I just want to put a thought into your mind that I can’t get out of mine:

What are you anticipating?

What are you looking to?

And what are you doing with what he has told you to do in this “waiting time”?

That part of the passage where it says that it will be good for the servant to be found doing the work the master told him to do has also really gotten me. Fill in the blank with what it is in your life, but ask your self if you are preparing yourself the way you need to.

Ok, I am going to get all geeky on you right now. My favorite movie is Lord of the Rings the Two Towers. Guys, it’s so good. And I realize some of you might have a problem with these movies, but the books are written by a Christian guy, (the same guy who led C.S. Lewis to the Lord, fyi) so….well I will leave it at that.

But there is this scene at the end of the movie and this battle RAGES outside. The enemy is literally tearing down the door, they are outnumbered, and their greatest help, Gandalf, has left them days before.

But he left with a promise: “Look to my coming, at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.”

If there is one thing I know, whether about Jesus or epic movies, it is this: when Someone promises they are coming, THEY COME. Because the Good Guy always keeps his promises.

Watch the clip here:

DOESN'T THAT JUST GIVE YOU GOOSEBUMPS????

Wolfies, the Savior always shows up. 

That’s why we call him the Savior. We don’t just hand out these titles to anyone.

And I realize that sometimes life can be really hard, and you can feel like the enemy is ripping the door of the hinges, but do you believe that when Jesus says “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done” (Revelation 22:12) he really means that he is coming soon, his reward is with him, and he will give to everyone according to what he has done?

Do you see the pattern? It’s a promise: “I will come.” And it’s an instruction: “Do what I have told you to do while you wait for me.”

 

He will show up, Wolfies. And it will be good for us, his servants, to be found doing what he has called us to do—while looking “to the East.” Always live with the anticipation of THE RIGHT THING.