Waiting Eagerly for What?
"...wait eagerly for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." [1Corinthians 1:7AMP]
Everyone is waiting for something! By divine design we are forward looking beings. Some with optimism; others with pessimissim; some with hopeful anticipation, others with fearful expectation. Either way, our thoughts are always about tomorrow.
This is especially true when times are difficult. We may fear the future; but we also hope for things to get better. The question is, what does a better future look like?
For a growing number of Americans, the Biden-Harris administration has become the fulfillment of their worst fears. Never has an administration worked so hard to institutionalize what the Bible identifies as "evil": Unlimited abortion, LGBTQ+ism, amorality, Marxism, reverse racism, and the erosion of personal and religious freedoms. It feels like an avalanche of evil, perpetrated by persons whom the Bible rightly describes as "wicked!" (1Samuel 24:13; Jeremiah 5:26)
For many the answer is Trump 2.0. It's easy to see why. For most of Trump's first term, the economy soared, unemployment set record lows, personal incomes went up for the first time in 30 years; inflation was flat, the dollar was powerful, America was feared and respected by its friends and adversaries; and not a single war had been started. Most incredibly, there was peace in the Middle East. Most of that has been undone by Biden's first 100 days. It's easy to think that Trump's return would fix everything that is wrong in America.
But will it? We still murder our unborn; sexual immorality is still very popular, while marriage and fidelity are not; and the church has become increasingly impotent as she apostatizes under the twisted rubric of being loving, compassionate & accepting!
What America needs is not a political or social reformation, as much as a spiritual reformation. What we need is not just a return to prosperity, but a return to faith and the fear of God. As Jesus warned, " What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)
Jesus left us a warning: “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. The final condition of that man is worse than the first.” [Luke 11:24,25 NASB]
If conservatives succeed in pushing progressives out of power, our house may be swept and put in order; but without a spiritual awakening, the change will be temporary, and the final condition... worse than the first; for our faith will be in "a man", not in God! All the underlying problems will remain: We will continue to drift into sinful rebellion against God, while being unaware because the economy prospers.
Our hope should not be in the "return" of Trump, but in the Return of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. [Psa. 146:3; 118:9]