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Waiting...


Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.  God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.  We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized.  We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Hebrews 6:9-12)

          The author of Hebrews, having issued his dire warning that not all those who believe they are Christians are seems to have looked up from his writing, stared into the middle distance, collected himself and returned to the letter. His warning, he assured them was general, not personal. He wasn’t saying this about anyone specific. He wasn’t doubting their salvation. He’d seen enough to be convinced that their grafts were strong and nourishing to both branch and root.
          God had seen the same things in these believers that the author had – and more. He is not the sort of person to forget what has happened. However, God’s not forgetting what they had done so far was no excuse for them to rest on their laurels. His conclusion to the paragraph is his real point. To inherit what God has promised, they had to exercise two soulish muscles: faith and patience.
          Uh … oh. Here we go with trusting and waiting again. They’re two sides of a coin. If we are going to wait for God to act on His promises, then we are trusting Him to act on His promises. If we are going to trust God to act on his promises, then we have to wait for God to act on His promises. After last winter, waiting is something I should be used to (if not good at) but  I have to wonder if it ever gets easier. 
         But I suspect that waiting and trusting are the evidences that the author would have looked for in order to be convinced of better things in our case. And that brings me back to Professor Dallas Willard’s statement, and my additions to it. “Be ruthless with hurry” and fear, and dismay.

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