Waiting worthily
8/25/2009 2:38:55 PM
Monday’s post about patience and waiting got me thinking about the ongoing marriage conversation. And so, this blog continues the theme but is not part of the“Report Out of Africa” series.
I was doing youth ministry at the time and the question was one that I could not experientially answer: “Will it really be worth the wait?” I had been talking with a group of young teens about sexual purity.
We had covered all the good and Godly reasons to practice abstinence until marriage:
· True love waits and if someone truly loves you, they will wait.
· We have been redeemed and our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit.
· As disciples of Jesus Christ, purity matters.
· If you have sex with someone you’re not married to then in every way that matters, you are sleeping with someone who, from God’s perspective, is someone else’s spouse.
· God designed sex to be fun and wonderful and free and productive and sacred.
· And the kicker, it’s a gift that you can only really give away for the first time once.
“Yeah, I get all that,” this 13-year-old agreed, “but will it really be worth the wait?”
It hadn’t occurred to her that as a single Christian woman, I couldn’t answer the question she was asking except to say, “I hope so.”
“You mean, you’ve never had sex?” she half asked and half stated in astonishment.
It was one of the few times in my life that I can honestly say being able to tell a kid “no” was mutually edifying. My parents had always placed a high value on sexual purity and it never really occurred to me that it would be something I would do prior to marriage. Until, sadly, I went to seminary and found out that standard is not universally shared among leaders in the church. But that’s another conversation for another day. Today’s matter is unreasonable hope in an astonishing promise made by a God who only wants the best for His beloved children.
The hope I articulated to that student all those years ago lives in me today. It is a genuine hope and someday, God willing, I trust it will be a hope that is realized.
But the question asked that day was profound: Do we really believe that the promises of God are worth waiting for? Is God really good for His Word? Do we really believe that putting off the things of the world for Jesus’ sake will ultimately be worth it? Will all this “delayed gratification” of picking up my cross daily and following Him really be worth the wait? Will heaven be worth the wait? Will seeing Jesus face to face be worth the wait? Will knowing God fully even as I have been fully known, really be worth the wait?
Paul thought so. (Revisit Monday’s post, which includes a paraphrase of Romans 8 on this matter.)
For Paul, the wait is worth the weight of glory!
Waiting is not intended to be a time that is focused on the waiting – but a time of eager longing, expectant anticipation, hopeful preparation.
Consider a bride preparing for marriage. Beyond courtship and wooing and discernment, there is engagement. This period of betrothal is a time to prepare for marriage. It is filled with joy and expectation and hope and eager longing for something that is regarded as too good to be true. Can it really be that I should be so loved, adored, cherished, highly esteemed, respected, honored and chosen? Can it really be that this one would give up the possibility of being with any other in order to be with me, always and forever?
What rush of emotion will be felt when the bridegroom sees the bride prepared and presented pure, saved just for Him? Jesus is even now waiting for that moment. Jesus is even now waiting with eager, hope-filled expectation for his promised betrothed, the Church, to be presented to Him by the Father. Are we waiting worthily for the One who waits so longingly for us? Will the Church be prepared for her day?
I have stood with many grooms at the chancel steps when their bride appears. Their breath runs away and their knees go weak, their eyes go wide and their smiles cannot be wiped away. Some of them, that is. My heart breaks when it doesn’t happen and I regret that I know why.
That moment was not worth waiting for because the groom and his bride chose not to wait worthily.
This I know, Jesus is worth the wait. And if the relationship of husband and wife is a provisional demonstration of God’s relationship with His people, then it too is worth the wait. Bearing authentic and reliable witness is worth the wait. Bearing false witness is the alternative.
So, is your witness to Christ worth the wait?
Is being presented to Christ as a part of his bride, the Church, worth the wait?
Ultimately, is Jesus worth the wait?
And if He is, then am I waiting worthily of the One worth waiting for?