02/02/2024
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, Which, He said, you heard of from Me….
- Acts 1:4
WAIT…..Don’t go, don’t depart, don’t withdraw…..WAIT
The instruction to the disciples before Jesus ascended was to wait for the promise. They did. 120 in total did. What about the ones who didn’t, who couldn’t, who didn’t want to, who were too impatient?
Society has created a culture that doesn’t know how to wait for anything. Everything is instant, on demand, our way. Waiting, the instruction given by the Savior which kicked off the start of the first church, has been virtually done away with.
As I write this I am reminded of so many somber stories of those who couldn’t wait. They were invited to the upper room, but they couldn’t handle the waiting, so they went and tried to acquire the promise of the job, the ministry, the marriage, the money, the physical intimacy, on their own terms and in their own way. The simple instruction was to WAIT. They deemed that the Son was too unfair to ask that of them.
The invitation from the Son is a simple one: Will you wait for the promise? Whatever the promise looks like to you, whatever hope deferred heart sickness has tried to get you to give in to, whatever you think He’s forgotten about…..Jesus is still asking us the same question: Will you WAIT for the promise?