Rose Parade
Originally scheduled for January 8
My father summed it up this way: “The dumbest thing California
ever did was to televise the Rose Parade. Just think of it; all
those farmers in Iowa, under 50 feet of snow, milking their cows to
get ice cream and they see a bunch of girls in bikinis riding on
floats made of flowers. It’s a wonder there is anyone left in Iowa.”
You can have a fair amount of empathy for the farmer. It’s January
8; the New Year’s parties are over and the weather hasn’t changed.
We are in the midst of the bleak midwinter season. But the farmer
knows that spring arrives when spring arrives, and waits for it
patiently. Like anyone who is waiting for a richly anticipated
result, there is a certain pain to waiting.
The Christian
has a larger version of this problem. At the institution of the
Lord’s supper, Christ told his apostles that he would return:
"But I say to you, I will not drink of
this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it
new with you in My Father's kingdom."
(Matthew 26:29
NASB)
So it is that our Lord tells us he will come back.
The apostles were quite sure it would be a few weeks or months; a
small number of years at the most. That was 2000 years ago.
Injustice still rings in this world; we live in the bleak midwinter
of human sin. So when is He going to return?
“Soon.” The same
answer he’s been giving the church for 2000 years. How is this
possible?
But do not let this one fact
escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a
thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
(2 Peter 3:8
NASB)
It is our Lord’s purpose that all possible should be
saved. You are witnessing not his tardiness but his patience. It’s
just that his patience corresponds with our impatience.
Do
not despair, Christian. Our Lord will return to judge the living and
the dead. At his return Adolf Hitler will get what he deserves in
the justice of God. Real Christians look forward to the return of
our Lord with joy. One of the many purposes of communion is to
remind you of that joy, to put you in mind of his return. It also
gives you a chance to mend your relationship with Him. So examine
yourself this morning, and see if there is something in you that
needs remedy. Take it to you Lord; accept his forgiveness — then
partake. The bread is his body; the cup, his blood. This he did for
you so that you might have mercy on the day of judgment. Examine
yourself; mend your relationship and then partake in a worthy
manner.
