Waiting requires patience and most of us fall short when it comes to this fruit of the Spirit. Life is filled with lessons that require patience. As humans, we want circumstances, desires, and other things immediately. We don’t like to wait. None of us enjoy checkout lines, red lights, or phone calls when we are put on hold. It takes 9 months to meet our newborns, years to find our true love, hours for a good meal, and so on. Life is a series of continual waits.

God uses these lessons that require a holding pattern to sanctify us. He waits for us to become more like His son, Jesus! God is patient and we are called to be like Christ. The hope is that while we strive day in and day out, to get through each day filled with unnumerable waits, we grow in patience. Hopefully, we learn to embrace her as she chips away at our old man. Laying aside self to become a new creation in Christ.

“That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24 (NKJV)

“Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:6 (NIV)

The Bible is full of characters who waited. Noah built an ark and took refuge on it for many days, while waters flooded the earth. He waited for God to call him out of the ark after the surface of the ground was dry.

“Then God said to Noah, ‘Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.’” Genesis 8:15-17 (NIV)

“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.”
Lamentations 3:25 (NKJV)

God told Abraham that through his seed He would make him the father of many nations. Abraham was 100 years old when Sarah gave birth to Isaac. In faith he waited for God’s blessing.

“No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” Genesis 17:5 (NIV)

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!” Psalms 27:13-14 (NKJV)

Take any Bible character and there is a story of waiting. Waiting for fish to fill nets, waiting for miracles and healings to occur, waiting for provisions (of food), waiting to leave and arrive at destinations, waiting for brides, and waiting for Jesus to rise again. Yes, on the third day Jesus rose from the grave and His disciples waited for this miracle. Resurrection Sunday is upon us and we remember the promise Jesus gave His disciples.

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Matthew 16:21 (NIV)

Three female followers of Christ had to wait until Sunday to anoint His body for burial. Jesus died on Friday and the Sabbath was Saturday. On Sunday, the women set out early with oil and spices, intent to complete the job of tending His body for entombment. Although Jesus told his disciples He would die and rise again on the third day, they either forgot this promise, never believed it, or never really understood it. Oh death, where is your sting?

We, the church and Bride of Christ, wait for the coming time when we are caught up in the clouds. I believe we are living in the last days and the rapture of the church will soon be upon us. Therefore, live like He will call you home at any hour, share your faith, pray for our country and leaders, and be encouraged… encouraged by the hope that lives within you. Jesus rose again on the third day. There is victory over sin and death through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Happy Resurrection Sunday. Have a blessed Easter.