“Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and
Savior Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13
I believe every Christian ought to be expecting the Lord Jesus to return at any day. Again, we ought to live with an eye on the sky. He is coming and all indications seem to say that He could return at any moment.
We are looking because we have a blessed hope. This “blessed hope” gives us the encourage- ment and enablement we need for daily living. It does not put us in a rocking chair where we complacently await the return of Jesus Christ. Instead, it puts us in the world where we keep on going when the burdens are heavy and the battles are hard. Hope is not a sedative; it is a shot of adrenaline, a spiritual blood transfusion.
We look and long for the one who is our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is a blessed hope because it is connected with Jesus Christ. Life without Christ is a hopeless end; however, life in Christ is an endless hope. The greatest joy on earth is the sure hope of heaven! He is who is coming is our great God not our greater God, for after Him no one is great! He is our great God, the object of our worship, creator and Saviour, forgiver of sins, final judge, the one to whom we pray, the one in whom all the fullness of the godhead dwells in a body (Colossians 2:9).
He is the One who came to a cradle and He is the one who is coming again in the clouds. His first appearing is past and is associated with grace, but His second appearing is future and is associ- ated with glory. His first appearance was the commencement of salvation; His second appear- ing will be the consummation of salvation. His first appearing saved man from the penalty of sin, but His second appearing will save man from the presence and possibility of sin.
All Christians should be thankful for Jesus’ promise, “I will come again and receive you to Myself” (John 14:3). But our own circumstances affect how eagerly we anticipate His return. Whether life for us today is a joy or a struggle, we are to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts” and to “live soberly, righteously, and godly” (Titus 2:12).
God wants us to enjoy life. But He also wants us to live each day as if it may be the one in which He will return. Are you looking up?
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Garment of Praise
Monthly Insights for Spiritual Growth, Encouragement and Personal Victory.
Oluyemisi Onanuga
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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