"I HOPE JESUS WAITS UNTIL UNTIL AFTER CHRISTMAS."

A couple of years ago as I was driving my son to school we were listening to the news on the radio. After one particularly sad story I said out loud, “I hope Jesus comes back soon.”

 My son answered, “I hope He waits until after Christmas.”

I could relate because when I was a boy I would often have similar thoughts whenever someone spoke about Jesus coming back. It’s not that I didn’t know that this way of thinking was wrong. I did. I just didn’t feel the wrongness of it. Sure, I believed Jesus was going to come back, and I knew intellectually that His appearing should be preferred over anything and yet still it could not be said that I truly longed for it. In my heart of hearts, I thought of Jesus’ return not as the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13) but as the end of all I had hoped to achieve and experience in life. 

So, even though I now long for Jesus’ return more than anything, I could relate to what my son had said. I used to feel much the same.

I felt the need to say something to him, but was struggling to find the words that would help him not just grasp the truth about Jesus coming back but which would actually stir within him a longing for it.

We drove on in silence for a moment and then I asked my son what his favorite part of the school day was. Predictably, he said “recess.”

“It’s the only part I like,” he added.

“What if you got to school today,” I asked, “and right as you were starting your math lesson, they called your name over the intercom and told you to report to the office? And when you got to the office your Mom and I were there and we told you that we were pulling you out of school--- not just for the day, not just for the week, and not just for the rest of the school year, but forever! And what’s more, the reason we were pulling you out was because, we were going to take you on a tour of the world’s amusement parks. We were going to ride every roller coaster in the world, travel, have adventures and eat the most amazing foods!”

“If that happened,” I asked, “would you say to me, ‘I wish you had waited until after recess to come get me?”

“No,” he said, “of course not!”

When Jesus comes it will be like that!  It will not be the end of our fun but the beginning of a higher, more excellent, joy-filled existence with God. It’ll make Christmas break or anything else we might prefer over his coming look pretty shabby. The best experiences in this life are but a pale foreshadowing of the joy to come. Look forward to that day! It’ll be amazing!

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:8