GOD SENT US A SAVIOR
If our greatest need had been information,
God would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist.
If our greatest need had been money,
God would have sent us an economist.
If our greatest need had been pleasure,
God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness,
So God sent us a SAVIOR.
—Roy Lessin
WAITING TO BE LOVED
By John Fisher
The Lord is coming back! Christ’s return is imminent! Every generation believes theirs will be the one to see it. I certainly did, having been a young adult during the Jesus movement in the early 1970s. We were sure the return of Christ was right around the corner. We wrote songs about it. Hal Lindsay wrote a book about it. (The Late Great Planet Earth) Larry Norman even wrote a song to leave behind after we were gone! (“I Wish We’d All Been Ready”)
And here we are, thirty years later, balding “Jesus people” going to work and trying to provide a future for our children (and grandchildren!). Believe me, the Lord has heard from me a few times about this. There was something very glamorous about being part of a revival that would usher in the last days and the return of Christ, especially when you were twenty-four years old and single with nothing more than a pack on your back and a guitar at your side. Besides, we were part of a generation that prided itself in being anti-establishment, anti-mortgage, anti-credit card, and anti-insurance. We were going to just be one big love-in, living off the land and taking care of each other until Christ returned, which wasn’t supposed to be more than two or three years, max.
I reflect back on those years sometimes and see how selfish we were. Had we gotten our wish, many of you who are reading this now would not have existed. I think in some ways, every generation wants to be the last, especially when we face the dark side of our existence and long for heaven where there will be no more pain or sorrow.
But it’s not about us. It’s about all those who haven’t yet come into the family. “The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise to return, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to perish, so He is giving more time for everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT)
Shame on us for thinking only of ourselves! We’re so quick to scramble on the ark and then close the door and let the rains come. God is more concerned about those who might be left behind than we are, or else He would have returned years ago.
We need a new way of thinking about the Lord’s return. We can spend an inordinate amount of time picking over scripture trying to figure out exactly when it will happen, and then get into arguments with each other over exactly how we think it will happen, when the only reason it hasn’t happened yet is standing outside our door, waiting for our attention. God hasn’t returned for only one reason; someone who needs to know hasn’t heard about Him yet.