Do you enjoy waiting? I can’t say that I do. I usually want to get on with it, whatever it is. If I’m stuck in traffic, I’m checking the map for a way around. I also pick the shortest line at the store checkout. And I dread getting boxed into a checkout lane when the person ahead buys something requiring the clerk to call for a price check.

However, I can wait patiently for tomatoes to ripen on the vine. The flavor of vine-ripened tomatoes is exquisite. And I can’t do anything to make them grow faster. So, I wait. Oh, I’m eager for them the ripen and I check them frequently, but I know the wait will be worth it.

The same thing is true of our hope in Christ. Romans 8:24-25 says, “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” (NIV 1984)

The word patiently in the passage is the same word that can be translated “perseverance.” To persevere requires us to wait on God with confident expectation. We know Christ will return and set right every broken thing in this world. We eagerly want it, but have no control over the timing. We simple continue to hold on to hope.

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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.