Bring On the Lines

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Romans 8:25 (ESV) — But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

What it is speaking to me

It is kinda crazy how bad I have gotten at waiting. I mean most folks hate a long line of traffic on the highway, construction zones, DMV lines, long checkout lines at the store, or even lines in a buffet at church. That's normal levels of impatience. Not condoning it, just understanding it.

But in an instant-access culture brought to us by the internet, I have noticed I have even less patience for other things. Load times on webpages being more than a few milliseconds make me harumph. I noticed myself getting exasperated about the 15 sec lag between one episode ending of a streaming TV show and the next one starting. I even had to click my remote to move it along! Can you believe my hardship?! It was like I had been personally wronged by my TV for greedily taking 20 seconds of MY time!

(I hope you are reading these last few sentences with the intended ridiculousness...)

Paul doesn't talk about waiting like that. A few verses earlier he says we wait for our adoption "eagerly" (Romans 8:23), and here he pairs hope with patience in the waiting. My default pairing when I have to wait is irritation and distraction. Get annoyed, and get out the phone. Scroll, kill the time, move on. I never even ask what that time could have been for.

Now in context, Paul isn't waiting on a page to load or a streaming show to auto-play. He's waiting on the redemption of his body, the completion of everything God started when he saved him. When the things you're hoping for are that big, the waiting stops being wasted time and starts being aimed time.

What if my waiting went from irritated and distracted to eager and patient?

Bring on the lines. I am ready to hope.

What is it saying to you?

What's your instinct the moment you're stuck waiting somewhere?Does your hope feel big enough to make waiting feel worth doing well?What would it look like to wait "eagerly" instead of just tolerating it?

What are we going to do about it?

The next time you're stuck waiting today, use it as a two-minute intentional prayer instead of picking up your phone. Let the delay do what Paul says it can do. Stretch your patience, and point your hope somewhere eternal.