How do we wait for God?
Jude 1:21 says “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Waiting is so important that Jude connects it with keeping ourselves in the love of God. It is mentioned all throughout the Bible and is a necessary part of our daily lives. So how do we do it?
Waiting is almost the same as faith, hope, or trust. See Romans 8:25 where waiting is the essence of hope. It requires something that we don’t see, or something we don’t have yet.
It is hard to wait on God when the world promises quick ways to get what we want. The temporary fixes of the world are so various and seductive that people can spend their whole lives never waiting on God. Christians even have daily trouble with waiting on God.
Waiting most often starts when we have some kind of imperfection in our life:
In uncertainty, we trust in God’s plan, not anxious about our own plan or what could go wrong.
In pain, we wait for our Father’s comfort, not the self-medication or distractions of the world.
In doubt, we have faith in the Lord’s faithfulness, not our own perfection.
In failure, we wait for God to grow us, not fall into despair or anger.
In boredom, we trust that God has something more for us, not run to another stimulating experience.
In temptation, we hope in the salvation of the Lord, not give in to sin.
In sin, we have faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, not fall into guilt and shame which were washed away in his blood.
When everything seems good in life, we still wait on God, thanking Him for the more He will bring us.
In all things we pray and thank God; we wait for Jesus to return, for our perfected bodies to be ours, and for eternal life with the Father that is beyond our imagination. Waiting in faith is worth it.
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 1:21)
