A Spirit of Expectation

When you look at the church collectively and corporately, it's hard to identify something for which there is a sense of expectation. Sure, there are individual congregations that may have certain projects or programs that they are excited about and are waiting to come to fruition. But for the Body of Christ as a whole, you don't see something that "every believer," if you will, is waiting for with a spirit of expectation. I bring this up because a spirit of expectation is what drives a group and a community into the future. Without a goal, an aim, a dream, a mark, that has you anticipating the "not yet," it's easy to get stuck in the "here and now."

In looking at the times of Jesus, before His public showing and after His Ascension, the people of God were waiting for the Messiah. The 3rd chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke says that "the people were in expectation." Joseph of Arimathea, the man whose tomb Jesus was buried in, "waited for the kingdom of God" (Mark 15). What is the church waiting for today? Some would say, we're waiting for Jesus' return. We're waiting for the Rapture, or the Second Coming. Are we really? Any authentic expectation of the Messiah has a dual expectation of The Kingdom. And with that expectation comes a concomitant investment.

Part of the problem with the church's expectation of Christ's return is that we've made it too eschatological (related to the end times and the end of the world). This makes His Return "way off" if you will, and it's hard to make the application to everyday living. But what if Christ's Return wasn't necessarily related to His return at the end of the world? What if the Return of Christ wasn't restricted to an End-Time Kingdom event? Jesus says in the 14th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, "he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." He also says in the same chapter, "if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him." Could it be that the Manifestation of Christ is an experience that can take place before His ultimate return, for the believer that loves Him? When Jesus says He will come to the believer, could it be in Person? Many people may write this off as Jesus referring to the presence of the Holy Spirit; I am not. I believe that there is a dimension to the believer's relationship with Christ that, if he loves the Lord and keeps His commandments, the Lord will come to him/her in Person and manifest His Presence.

Whether you agree with this or not, I will ask you this; "if" what I'm believing is true, would that not heighten your expectation as a believer? If you felt like you had a legitimate chance to witness Jesus in person before your physical death, wouldn't that put a little more boost in your commitment to your relationship with Him, something else to look forward to? I truly believe, if nothing else, it would heighten the church's Spirit of Expectation.