What is Your ETA?

Has anyone ever asked you that question?

Hopefully, it wasn’t a cellphone call from your boss because you’re late coming back from lunch.  😉

Many years ago, when I was a news reporter, we used to answer the ETA question a lot.

For example, after covering a news story, my cameraman and I would radio the TV station to tell them we were finished and on our way back.

Something like this:

 

Me: Hey. We’re done. Headed back to Base.

Assignment Director: What’s your ETA?

Me: About 30 minutes.

 

Journalism is a very time-driven profession.

I think we’re all that way to a degree. We like to know when we can expect this or that to happen, especially if we’ve been waiting a long time. But it doesn’t always happen that way, does it?

Jesus, What Is Your ETA?

With the direction things are going in this mixed-up world, it’s no wonder the heightened yearning for our Savior’s return.

I read some of the disturbing news headlines, and silently pray the Lord comes back sooner rather than later.

But always in accordance with the timing of His will.

Disturbing such as:

• Did you ever think you’d see radicalized sex education being taught to grade school students?
• Did you ever think you’d see a giant Ouija board erected in Massachusetts?  

Very, very sad.

Depending on the headline, I cringe, or I cry, and sometimes I grieve, especially if it’s a story affecting the future of our children.

Please, make it stop.

Come Lord Jesus!

The fact is, just as in Biblical history past, we don’t know when Jesus will return.

God decided in His infinite wisdom that we don’t need to know the timing. The exact future day and time will remain a mystery, until it’s here.

Good News for Repentant Sinners

When the headlines get you down, remember Who is always in control.

I take comfort in the reminder that God will save every last sinner who repents and turns to follow Jesus.

But that takes time. This is a big world and God is moving in ways that we don’t see.

God’s timing is always perfect, even though it can feel like forever to us.

Doesn’t God care about how bad things are getting?

He cares more than we could ever understand.

In the meantime, we must continue to persevere and shine the light of His glory as He exercises His Sovereign power over all of humanity.

. . . the real reason for the Lord’s delay is not that He is negligent or careless in fulfilling His promises, but simply because He is long-suffering and kind, delaying Christ’s coming and the wrath that will accompany it while He calls out people to salvation.  

And Christ will not return before the merciful purposes of God are complete.  

Far from suggesting apathy or neglect on God’s part, the long delay before Christ’s appearing simply underscores the remarkable depth of His nearly inexhaustible mercy and long-suffering.¹ – John MacArthur, Pastor and Bible Teacher, Grace To You.

Praise God for His inexhaustible mercy, or none of us would be saved!

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John MacArthur quotation, courtesy of  GTY.org/library/articles. 23 July, 2009. para. 30. Web. Accessed 4 November, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.gty.org/library/articles/A368/is-christs-return-imminent.