As children of the Lord, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return in person for us. What should be our attitude to Him and to His second advent? Knowing that that glorious day is drawing nearer, our lives should be consistent with such a blessed hope. We should be:
LOOKING FOR HIM
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The glorious appearing of our Saviour should not be simply a doctrine to us. We should be looking forward to His return with eager expectancy.
It is not to be regarded only as a truth to which we give our assent. It should also be a glorious prospect. Looking forward to meeting a dear friend can give great pleasure; but with what intense joy we anticipate meeting the One who has died for us, and who has planned so glorious a future for us!
LIVING FOR HIM
“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Peter 3:14). Our lives should be very different because we believe our Lord is returning for us. Everything should be done in the light of that day. How different some of our lives would be if we commenced each day with the thought that “perhaps today” the Lord will come. It would have a purifying effect on our conduct.
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). Of course, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us: that is our standing; but God expects us to seek to live purified lives, and by His grace to bring our state up to our standing. The truth of the Lord’s coming surely should make us “… strangers and pilgrims …” (Hebrews 11:13). on this earth. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that “…your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
LABOURING FOR HIM
We should work for our coming Saviour because it is His command. In His parable of the pounds, the Lord Jesus says, “… Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). Therefore, if we are not serving the Lord according to the talents He has given us, we are disobedient. Our Lord has given us a job to do. Let us do it faithfully and in love.
In his daily thanks to God, Paul remembered the “…labour of love …” (1 Thessalonians 1:3) of the Thessalonians. The Lord tells us, “I know thy works, and thy labour …” (Revelation 2:2). Let us not labour for Him merely as a duty, but because we love Him – doing whatever task He has entrusted to us gladly and patiently. Service that is undertaken in love will bear fruit. It will also receive rich rewards.
We should labour for Him because many fields “… are white already to harvest”(John 4:35). There is much to do before our Lord comes, and there are many indications that He is coming quickly. Hands to the plough, therefore, and no looking back! What a joy it will be to share in the harvest.
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
LEARNING OF HIM
The Lord Jesus said, “…learn of me …” (Matthew 11 :29). During this time of sojourning here, we should be learning of Him. We ought to be learning of Him through the Scriptures. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). In the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ makes Himself known, and He reveals Himself to any seeking soul.
We also learn of Him through prayer. What sweet fellowship we can have with our Saviour in this way. It is only as we spend time with our Lord that we get to know Him and learn of Him. Prayer is vital to the Christian, yet how difficult many of us find it to spend unhurried time with God.
Because our Saviour is coming, let us give ourselves to prayer and Bible study. What a joy it will be to anticipate meeting the One with whom we have blessed fellowship now!
LEANING ON HIM
We should put our “Trust in the LORD… and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3: 5). He has promised to return for us, that “… where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3).
As we have His promise to come back for us, then we can surely trust in Him now. If we can trust Him for our future, we can trust Him for the present. All our circumstances are known to Him, and He controls everything. How inconsistent is worry and anxiety and fear in the light of the Lord’s coming. We can have His blessed leading day by day.
In His Word He has sought to encourage us during our time of sojourning on earth, and yet how many of us have a limited spiritual experience through lack of faith! May the fact of His glorious appearing quicken our faith.
LOVING HIM
“Whom having not seen, ye love…” (1 Peter 1:8). The Holy Spirit has revealed the wonderful things of Christ to us who“… he hath chosen…” (Ephesians 1 :4). What precious things He has shown us in the Word of God about our Saviour and Lover. As we wait to meet our Lord and be together with Him, how we should love Him and serve Him.