Trinity 27

Matthew 25:1-13 - Trinity XXVII - November 25, 2012
Faith’s Anticipation

Anticipation is half the pleasure.  There’s something true about this.  When you’re looking forward to something, not only do you feel like each day is filled with that much more meaning, but also in those moments of waiting you have the opportunity to ponder and reflect upon whatever it is you’re waiting for.  And that’s nice.  It kind of keeps you energized in a way.  But you know that with whatever pleasure that you’re looking forward to, nine times out of ten you end up spending more time looking forward to it than you do actually enjoying it.  It’s funny how that works. 
Just think of thanksgiving guests coming and leaving … and now they are leaving again.    

But this isn’t how it works when it comes to eternal life.  It’s eternal, after all.  It lasts forever.  No amount of waiting will outlast or match what God has prepared for us there.  We wait for heaven by waiting on God who gives us heaven.  We wait on God by listening to His word that saves us.  We hear and believe the promises that He makes to us in Christ, and, although we can neither see nor feel any evidence that He will deliver on His promises, we wait, because God’s word is true.  His reliability is not determined by what we are able to see or feel.  No, but God swears by Himself that all who wait on Him shall not be put to shame.  And so, in Jesus’ name we pray with the Psalmist:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation.
For you I wait all the day long (Psalm 25:4-5).

In other words, we pray that God teach us the Gospel.  That’s how we wait.  That’s what it means to wait – that’s what it’s always meant.  To wait is to believe the Gospel.