James 4-1 Peter 2
In the movie “Hardball” Keanu Reeves plays a man (Bob) who has made some bad life decisions. As the result of gambling debt he turns to a friend for a loan and the friend gives it to him on a condition—that Bob take over for him as coach of an inner-city baseball team. Bob does and as the movie unfolds he learns some important life lessons. One of the key lessons is also pretty simple, that 90% of life is “just showing up.”
In some ways this is true for Christ followers, too. It is not very inspirational or glorious, but it is a fundamental necessity. In his letter, James writes to people who are in the midst of life, trying to be faithful while at the same time struggling with hardship. In chapter 5 verse 7 he writes “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters until the Lord’s coming.” He goes on to cite the patience of farmers as an example and then he turns to the prophets of old as examples of patience in the face of suffering.
The farmer was patient knowing that a crop was coming, while the prophet was patient knowing that the Lord would bring about what he had promised. In both cases they continued to show up because they knew, in the end, it would pay off.
It is axiomatic that as a follower of Jesus we are not exempt from the hardships of life or from those stretches where life is monotonous and mundane. But as Christ followers we have a promise that Jesus will return, he will set things right and he will finish the good work he has begun in us. In other words patience, or if you will, showing up, will one day pay off.
--Nils
No comments:
Post a Comment