As we continue our series on Growing Together for revival, Rose’s post shares how remembering Jesus is coming again helps us keep an eternal perspective. That eternal perspective can be the key to daily personal revival despite the uncertainty we face.
Keeping an Eternal Perspective: Jesus is Coming Again
by Rose McConnell
This year our country has been walking through all kinds of uncertainty, and some of us have joked about how military families learned to be flexible well before this. I have a vivid memory of such uncertainty.
News vans parked outside the front gate, a deployment without an end date, and we were arriving in the middle of it all. As a military wife, this was a possibility I was aware of, but I didn’t expect it to become reality at our first duty assignment. I was not prepared to arrive, meet two other wives, and have my husband leave in such short order. That first deployment our family experienced was lonely and challenging, not that the later ones were easy. I learned from each assignment, each deployment, finding strength in walking through uncertain times with others. As the journey continued, more experienced military wives modeled for me how to trust God and look to him when all around me feels uncertain. I am grateful for their example in uncertain times.
The church was born in times of uncertainty as well.
The disciples had to watch Jesus taken from them, put on trial, and crucified. his resurrection brought joy, yet he ascended into heaven, and they had to go on without his physical presence. The Holy Spirit arrived with power, and persecution followed. In the midst of all of this, there was a promise given. Jesus will return. He shared that good news with his disciples during his last evening with them (John 14:2-3) and they were reminded of this at his ascension.
They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:10-11, NIV
Planting Roots has been focusing on Growing Together this year, looking at Hebrews 10:24-25. As I read my CSB translation these words jump out at me: hold on – (with) hope (v 23); provoke love and good works (v 24); gather together; encourage (v 25); don’t throw away your confidence (v 35); you need endurance (v 36); don’t draw back, but have faith (v 39).
Why are we to walk out life this way?
Because we have the certainty of Jesus’ return. That is the context of the verses we have been spending the year looking at.
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”Hebrews 10:37 NIV
Peter also affirms this in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
If you back up a few verses, you’ll see Peter write that “scoffers. . .will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?” and as you read down a few more verses, he says in light of this, “. . .what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.”
We are to look forward with faith.
And we return to Hebrews, where chapter 11 continues the encouragement to not draw back, showing us what that faith looks like through Old Testament examples. In the middle of the chapter, there is a description of how their faith had an eternal perspective. Let us look past our current uncertainty and move out in faith. We move out in faith by:
- looking past our circumstances
- focusing on Jesus
- remembering the story isn’t over
- remembering God has a plan
- and joining him in his work in the world as we wait in hope for his return.
As Christians, we may disagree on the details of Jesus’ return, but we can agree that Jesus will return. We are to look for his return and live in the light of that return. He will return, and we need to be ready.
Move Out
Read: Hebrews 11:13-16 (If you have time, read Hebrews 11 through Hebrews 12:2)
Reflect: How were the lives of these Old Testament people uncertain? How did they walk out confidence, endurance, and faith? Think about how Hebrews 10 flows into Hebrews 11 and 12. Does that give you a different perspective on these chapters?
Respond: What can you take from the examples you read? How can you walk out today with an eternal perspective, looking for Jesus’ return with hope?
Prayer
Lord, Thank you for the promise of your return. I need your strength to walk out the faith and endurance needed to keep my eyes fixed on You in the midst of the uncertainty in this world. Help me to not be one who draws back, but one who has faith and is saved. Amen.
About the Author
Rose is a friend of Planting Roots, and has been involved in ministry with military women for over 25 years. Her time as an Army wife enriched her life deeply. She has a passion for God, His Word, and building up women in leadership. You can often find her enjoying a cup of tea with her Bible nearby.
