"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:8
God urges us to wait patiently for that day when Christ Jesus returns in judgment upon all those who have disobeyed the Gospel and continue in rebellion and disobedience against the Lord God and to be glorified in all who have believed the Gospel and place their faith and hope in Christ Jesus and His blood, shed upon the cross for the sins of the world (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7-10).
And that day is coming soon – the Lord delays only because He is being patient with us and long-suffering, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).
While we patiently await that day when Christ shall come and judge the living and the dead and set up His everlasting kingdom of righteousness and holiness, God urges us to establish our hearts in the truth. We are to continue in His Word that we might know and believe the truth – that we might be made wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and be equipped to live our lives in that faith (cf. John 8:31-32; Acts 2:41-42; 2 Tim. 3:14-17; Col. 3:16).
And the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh. It will not be long before "the sun [shall] be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24:29-31). God would have us establish our hearts in the truth of His Word that, when that day comes, we be found ready and trusting in the shed blood of Jesus for forgiveness, life and a place in God's everlasting kingdom.
We consider the example of the farmer who plants his seed and waits patiently for the needed rains and then for the harvest, the example of the prophets who were persecuted for their witness to the truth and yet persevered, and the example of Job who suffered much until God richly blessed him once again (cf. James 5:7-11).
And we are assured that, if we by the grace of God endure in the faith, we will receive a crown of life and dwell forever in glory with our crucified and risen Savior (cf. Rev. 2:10; 3:11; 2 Tim. 4:7-8,18).
O gracious Savior, establish our hearts in the Gospel and grant that we hold fast to You and Your cross unto life everlasting. Amen.
[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture from the King James Version of the Bible.]
Religion on 12/18/2013