October 29 – Come, Lord Jesus
Dear Marisa,
«Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.»
(1 John 3:2-3)
Hopelessness. As this age draws to a close, that’s a feeling that’s going to be more and more common among the people of this world. But, you know, it’s something we as believers never have to feel! Because no matter how much pressure comes on the earth, no matter how dark the natural circumstances around us are, we know that we have hope in the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we forget that. We get our attention focused so intently on the natural things of this life that we lose that hope and get caught up in the hopelessness around us. But we don’t have to let that happen.
A friend of mine once met a born again Arab woman in the Middle East who was living proof of that. The woman was caught in a life most of us would consider almost unbearable. She was living in a war zone that had been torn up by violence. She faced the danger of bombs and bullets every day.
Now that Arab woman had no hope in the natural. Her country was being destroyed around her. She had to go to Israel to work and get money for her family because there were no jobs where she was, no way to make money. Things around her seemed to be going from bad to worse, but she told my friend she had hope because she knew that Jesus was coming back for her. And that hope kept her going.
So, if you’re feeling hopeless, get your eyes off this world and get them on the soon return of Jesus. Not only will that raise your spirit, the Bible says it will purify you. It will cause you to live uprightly, to separate you from the sin and failure of the world around you. It will lift you into the joy and victory of God.
Think about this. When this old world comes to an end, you and I will just be getting started. We’ll be stepping into the most glorious life we’ve ever known. The people of the world may look back wistfully and wish for better days gone by. But for you and me, the best is yet to come. So we can shout hallelujah in the midst of trouble and say with the Apostle John, «Even so, come, Lord Jesus.» Come quickly!
