Wait For Now Series

Wait For Now

James 5:7-12

Have I got good news for you!!!! The Lord is coming!!! Now all you need to do is hurry up and wait.

Seriously, James tells us to be patient. Sometimes it is easy to get distracted. Just look at our society, we are an impatient people. We eat fast food paid for with cash taken out of the ATM machine that we used when we got done in the express lane at Wal-Mart. We are truly a society of with a severe lack of patience. We are also a debt burdened people, instant gratification is our rallying point. Why wait when you can finance. We’ve all seen in rushed people living beyond their means.

How do you "beat the system." Stay focused on the end result. The greatest example was used in this scripture - the farmer. Living in the middle of farm country, you and I can easily relate. That farmer must spend countless hours in the field plowing, tilling, re-tilling, fertilizing. And when he’s done it repeats the process. He must let the rains nourish

the ground and crops. Yet he does not see harvest for several months. Why does he go through all that labor and toil, easy, the end result is worth the wait. All of that labor and patience turns into a fruitful return. My folks always used to tell me that the longer you wait the more special an event becomes.

Jesus is coming again and the sacrifices of this life will be worth it all. If you will take time to get to know Jesus better now, the deepening of your relationship with Him will make the reunion sweeter.

Here is some advice while you are waiting. Don’t complain to others. Nobody wants to hear you grumble about the wait. Besides all that grumbling only leads to unnecessary quarrels. Look to those who have set the standards and follow their examples. Job and the prophets of the Old Testament learned what it meant to wait upon the Lord, but their patience was rewarded.

Recognize the value of the in-between times. They are a time of molding, a time of shaping, a time of strengthening, and a time to see God’s mercy and grace revealed. When you recognize that God is using this time to shape you, your anxiety can be replaced by joy and thanksgiving.

Integrity is something that we all look for in those we deal with and associate with, but just what exactly is it. For the Christian, integrity should be the norm. To be a person of integrity let your words match your character. A person of integrity is known by the fact the tongue in his shoes is going the same direction as the tongue in his mouth. The believer’s word should be his oath. As we strive to become more like Jesus we will find that our lives are marked by the qualities of integrity:

1. honesty

2. truth

3. righteousness

4. a desire to seek God in all things

So hurry up. Wait patiently on the Lord and daily seek to be transformed to His image.