Longing or Dreading? And Your Answer is…?

“So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” -Heb 9:28 (NASB)

The verse above will spell it out very plainly where you stand as a Christian in this present age. It’s one that dips the litmus paper into your soul to indicate where your heart, mind and soul are at in your relationship with Jesus the Christ – our Savior and Redeemer.

If we are not waiting eagerly and anxiously for the appearing of our Lord in the rapture of His Bride then that should be a warning flag that something’s not right in our Christian walk. And one other key point that seems to be waving at us in this verse and I know there’s some controversy with it as well and that is “…will appear … to those who eagerly await Him“. Did you catch that? Is it saying that only those that eagerly, anxiously, and longing for His appearing will see Him at His appearance in the clouds to remove His Bride (the waiting, longing for, really believing, walking the walk, repentant Christians, that is) from the earth and take them to His Kingdom? Well, it sounds compelling and it parallel’s Acts 1:9-11, where the angel says something similar to those seeing Jesus being lifted into heaven (they were there and they were watching). Are you really waiting, watching and longing for the Lord to return in the clouds and take you up to His kingdom today, even before you finish reading this? If you can’t answer an unwavering YES to this question, then can I submit you that you are clinging on to too much in the world?

Many Christians are in name only cause it seems to rank you among the “good” people and cleanly-minded. And to some this is only their primary virtue concerning being a child of the King. Many church-going Christians, if you asked them, would not be prepared to meet the Lord now or anytime because the things of this earth – family, friends, stuff, etc – are more appealing, attractive and more magnetic to their souls. After all they haven’t seen or heard the Lord – their excuse perhaps being that the things of the world are visible and the people you can talk to and hear. If you cling to this world more than to Jesus, you are at enmity with Him – James 4:4. Strong and serious words.

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” -James 4:4 (ESV)

Read this verse carefully … is this where you are at? Time for a check in the mirror. Folks, if your not longing to see the Lord, embrace Him, speak to Him face to face, then I would submit to you and to me that something is wrong with our faith and we need some knees-to-the-earth time in prayer.

I personally wait anxiously for meeting with the Lord either in the catching away of His Bride or even  in death when it happens … (several years ago I was extremely close to meeting the Lord with a very serious medical condition). It’s time we got serious about where we stand in His eyes and our faith. It’s time we face that one of these days we will die and then we will meet Him! We need to be keenly aware of this and it should be at the forefront of our minds daily. Remember, the things of this world are temporary – our lives here only a vapor (James 4:14) and then we fly away – Psa 90:10. The question then remains are you longing or dreading the return of the Lord even if it happened today? This is not an emotional question. It’s a straight-up in your face question about the depth of your faith and do you really believe.

Are you saved? Do you love the Lord your God more than anything or anyone else on this planet? Are you anxiously waiting for His coming? It’s time to get serious about your eternal destination. Today! Right now! Don’t put it off!

Grace and peace in Christ

 “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” -2 Tim 4:8 (NIV)

-BPWatcher, Internet Preacher, and Bible Prophecy Watchman

GLORY TO GOD!