“We’re almost there.” Every child is eager to hear those words on a long trip. Workers striving to hit an end-of-the-year goal are energized by those words as their boss sends out the office-wide memo. Fresh off another thrilling win, the team’s belief in its ability to achieve its championship aspirations swells as the coach shouts those words. “We’re almost there!”
James wrote it a bit differently, but with a similar purpose in mind. Instead of “we’re almost there,” his refrain was “He’s almost here – the Lord is near!” The words instill a sense of urgency, a call to action, an encouragement to be ready for his arrival. There is a sense of imminency in James’ words! “Just a little while longer! It won’t be long now! The wait is almost over!”
But something may strike you as you consider these words from James: they were written a looooooooooong time ago. And still we wait. Jesus was a no-show to the first ears that heard these words of James. Jesus has been a no-show ever since.
That tends to take a little wind out of the sails, doesn’t it? The sense of urgency dissipates over such a long period of time. So what are we to make of what can often feel like a boy-who-cried-wolf warning about Jesus’ imminent return that has been sounding for 2,000 years? When James first wrote these words, his audience had experienced what it was like for the long wait to be over when Jesus came the first time at his birth. But when century after century after century has passed and Scripture’s words, “the Lord is near” are still supposed to tide us over, well, urgency ever so gradually morphs into complacency.
We see it in the church. You still find yourself wondering about certain folks you haven’t seen for who-knows-how-long. You might wonder if they’ve moved elsewhere or if they even still belong to the church. And here’s how that complacency cuts both ways: it isn’t just those who seem to be MIA, but it’s also those of us who are here but have been complacent about reaching out to them. For as much as we lament how neglected the Bible is, perhaps a close second is our neglect of the church directory.
And by no means is complacency’s reach limited to just this area – it can infect our service to others, our offerings, and our Christian living in general, allowing our fruits of the Spirit to become mushy and soft. Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal.5:22-23) need their own missing person’s report filed.
How do we make the shift back? How do we ditch the complacency and recapture the sense of urgency? ICYMI, James happens to mention a solution just once or twice (or four times…): be patient. Easier said than done! What exactly does that look like? Glad you asked, as James provides some pointers for patience as we await the Messiah’s return. He says to stand firm, avoid grumbling, and persevere.
What are you standing on right now? Be careful, because if you say Jesus, then your life will show Jesus. What I mean is that simply knowing what the answer should be does not always line up with reality. We fail to realize what experts we are in this area. We convince ourselves that this thing matters to me or that thing matters to me or we’re this type of person or that type of person. But often the cold, hard truth is that no one else observing our life would even begin to draw the same conclusion based on what they actually see.
We tell others that we absolutely love [blank], but then immediately follow it up with the excuse that we don’t have time for [blank]. Sorry, but no you don’t love it that much if you can’t even make time for it! We buy stuff that we’re convinced we need to support this hobby or interest… but the only time those things get touched is when they’re moved from being in the way in one place to being in the way somewhere else. And there they sit, serving as constant reminders of our imaginary hobby or interest. Parents go back and forth with their children and husbands go back and forth with their wives with what we refer to as nagging – but we fail to realize the reason it feels like nagging is that every comment is a convicting reminder that I am not who I say I am or am not interested in what I say I am interested in.
So if you say that you are standing firm right now on the truths and promises of Jesus and his Word, I’d encourage you to do a personal assessment to take note of exactly what evidence in your day-to-day living supports that confidence. If you don’t see as much evidence as you thought, there’s no time like the present to adjust it. If that is the only step you take in applying James’ pointers for patience, it would be a commendable one – and one that will reap noticeable blessings.
James also says that patience involves avoiding grumbling against one another. Uh oh. Grumbling in general is such a way of life for some of us. Your “Grumble List” from just the morning alone is already into its second column. “It’s too early. I don’t have anything to wear. We don’t have anything to eat. They’re sitting in our seat. I don’t like this hymn, etc.”
And when that comes so easily to us, it isn’t much of a stretch to direct that grumbling against others. “Our spouse leaves this there, our kids neglected that, so-and-so at church didn’t do it the right way…” Now, these things may have some merit, but grumbling is really not about addressing the actual issue itself so much as it is my attitude and approach to it. I can see an issue through a lens of gratitude or grumbling, and whichever perspective I take is going to determine how I interact with the other person involved. See – grumbling isn’t actually about others as much as we think; it has much more to do with our own attitude. Addressing this is another way we wait patiently.
And to round out the three keys to patience as we wait? Perseverance. Not our strong suit as a society. Adversity hits, and how do we respond? Outrage. We can’t believe this thing happened. We can’t believe this thing happened to us. We can’t believe someone else would do that.
Our default is the victim mentality that is convinced that removing the adversity – which is clearly someone else’s fault – is the only option. We don’t even consider how we might actually endure it or deal with it or process it or handle it or put up with it. We go right to eliminating it, which means turning the bullseye on someone or something else as the cause.
Those are just the cases that don’t even really involve significant adversity. What about when those arrive? What am I talking about? Fighting (in a good way!) instead of giving up. Forgiving instead of getting even. Growing instead of going when it gets tough. Trusting when tested. Some of you are going through seasons right now that are forcing you to face these difficult decisions. The adversity is real. The pull to call it quits is as strong as it’s ever been. Giving up seems so much easier. But patience means perseverance, friends!
Consider James’ examples. The prophets. Talk about a tough job description! “Go to God’s people and call them to repentance, but be careful – they won’t like you and will want you imprisoned or dead.” That’s perseverance! Or consider Job, who had everything, then had nothing, and was surrounded by nothing but miserable advice from his wife and friends to help him cope with trauma and tragedy. Still he didn’t turn away. That’s perseverance!
What fuels your perseverance? Where do we find the power to keep pushing? James tells us. “The Lord is full of compassion and mercy” (v.11c). You know what? That’s worth waiting for. Patiently, even!
But you know what else? We don’t have to wait for that – the Lord’s compassion and mercy are already ours! What proof of this do we have? Look back at Jesus’ first coming as Messiah. THAT was compassion and mercy. 2 Corinthians 1:3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Literally, God is the Father of compassion, for his Son is its source! The Messiah – the anointed or chosen one – has already come, and he already brought compassion with him the first time.
The gift wrapped up in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem was compassion personified. He came to give himself as the gift on Calvary that would keep on giving. What greater gift of compassion could there be than canceled sins? What greater gift of compassion could there be than the comfort of constant forgiveness for sinners? God doesn’t just call himself the Lord full of compassion and mercy – he backs it up!
Think on this for one second. If that is what the Messiah came to bring with him the first time, can you even imagine what he’s bringing with him when he returns??? Can you even imagine how he can top that? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer – He’s almost here. The Lord is near! In the meantime, we wait patiently for the Messiah to return. We do so by standing firm, giving up the grumbling, and persevering. And we do all of that with the compassion and mercy the Messiah brought with him the first time to tide us over until he comes again.