Listen with RealAudio!

Boy do I hate waiting! And that is exactly what I’m doing right now. I started trying to get a state inspection sticker for our van last night about 5:00 and it’s 3:00 the next day and I’m still waiting. Without boring you with the details, I’ve been called a liar, treated rudely, and am now at my third licensed inspection station trying to find someone to do the inspection. But I’ve not wasted the time. I’ve written notes, written articles, made presentation slides, caught up on my call list, and prayed for some folks under trial.

    I’ve read that the average North American spends 5-7 years of his/her life waiting in line. Europeans will spend even more time. In a day of instant everything, waiting is very hard. This is true whether it is waiting in the check out line at the grocery store, waiting to buy tickets for entertainment or a sporting event, or stuck in the motor bank behind the guy that is making six different deposits in one trip. Of course the "In Line" corollary to Murphy’s Law says, “Whichever line you stand it will suddenly move most slowly.” Unfortunately most of us have found Murphy is often correct!

We, however, are citizens of heaven, and we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come from heaven. Phillipians 3:20 (TEV)

    Interestingly, as Christians, that’s what we’re doing. We’re waiting. But good time management teaches us to be prepared for our wait. While we long for Jesus to come and bring absolute victory, we don’t waste the time we spend waiting. Just like I take my laptop and work to do everywhere I go where I may have to wait, I rigorously plan my days waiting for the coming of the Lord to be full of things that honor him, bless others, and make me more ready for his return.

    As you face each day, plan the waiting time—both the physical wait and the spiritual one. Take your checkbook with you to balance, notes to write, your prayer list to pray for, Bible to read, or you laptop computer to get some work done. Life is too precious to turn your waiting into wasting. In much the same way, we don’t want to waste away our waiting for the Lord’s return. There are too many opportunities that the Lord will give us and too many people with whom we need to share his grace to not use each moment to our advantage and our glory.

    So rather than seeing waiting time as wasted time, prayerfully commit to take each moment captive to be used productively, effectively and redemptively to the glory of God.