To one who is in expectation, even speed looks like delay

I was an impatient child. Some might say that I still am. But I remember doing a lot of waiting when I was younger. And it seemed that I waited forever for Christmas to come. In fact, I began my annual anticipation of Christmas Day on December 26th. Christmas represented everything that was special and fun about being a child, a rescue from the doldrums of math class and sibling spats. I wanted Christmas everyday but the sad part was that I had to wait a whole year for it to come again.

Memories of waiting for Christmas as a child help me deal with my anticipation and expectation of Christ’s return. I know well the truth of the common proverb, “To one who is in expectation, even speed looks like delay.” While there are lots of things that I enjoy about the world He’s given me: my wife, kids, friends, church, coaching, teaching, college football, music, coffee, Gulf Coast seafood and Disney World just to name a few, I am still reminded everyday that this is not heaven and it certainly isn’t home.

So, I live in expectation of Jesus coming back sometimes with both eyes lifted toward heaven, but more often cross-eyed with one eye on heaven and the other fixed on the earth. I long for a world that is free from sorrow, death, pre-mature babies struggling to breathe, cancer, chronic pain, the pressure to perform, the compulsion to be liked, relationship difficulties, my sin and your sin. In heaven, all of that goes away in an instant!

Moreover in heaven, I get to realize everything for which I have been created as I get to worship my Savior with a pure, unsinning heart. I receive my treasure and He is Christ, my Creator and Redeemer. I get Him and my eyes will be fully opened to the totality of what He has done for me!

The old Scottish Pastor, Robert Murray McCheyne penned a poem in 1837 which expresses some of these thoughts:

When this passing world is done,
When has sunk yon glaring sun,
When we stand with Christ in glory,
Looking o’er life’s finished story,
Then, Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.

When I stand before the throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own,
When I see Thee as Thou art,
Love Thee with unsinning heart,
Then Lord, shall I fully know—
Not till then—how much I owe.