The Best Thing to Happen in 2025
I came of age during the heyday of the 70s. That meant youth choir trips, Jesus music, and an obsession with the rapture, tribulation, and the antichrist. Those were days when everyone was reading Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. I don’t know how many times I watched the movie A Thief in the Night.
We were all on board. “Yeah! Jesus is coming back!” But under my breath, I’d mutter, “Just not yet.”
Turns out I was not alone. We were teenagers, for goodness’ sake! Our whole lives were in front of us. We wanted to finish growing up, fall in love, leave home, and have great adventures. Life was good, and yeah, sure, the return of Jesus would be a great thing, but could God put this off a decade or two?
Let’s fast forward fifty years. I did leave home. I did fall in love. I’ve had great adventures, but oh, I am so ready for Jesus to come back. God has given me a good life, but I get it now. As good as my life has been under God’s grace and blessing, it is nothing compared to what awaits us when Jesus returns and sets up His eternal kingdom.
It’s not that life has now gotten hard. Sure, I’ve faced challenges, and my body does not always cooperate with my plans, but I can’t complain. However, I now see beyond the bubble of my own life and see incredible heartache. Injustice. Abuse. Deprivation. Persecution. I find myself more and more crying along with the apostle John, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
This is a terrible world we live in—and it’s only getting worse. A day will come when, should I live long enough, the bubble I live in will burst, and I will experience the injustice, abuse, deprivation, and persecution that so many believers around the world are already experiencing simply because they follow Jesus.
Why would we not eagerly anticipate the return of Christ? For so many of us in America, life is relatively comfortable—and that’s the problem. We’re so enamored with the things God has given us more than with God Himself. It’s easier to focus on the comforts in front of us than to “see” the promises we have in Christ.
“What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has conceived—God has prepared these things for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).
We must change our focus, but even if we attempt to focus on Jesus and His coming kingdom, we can’t come close to imagining what’s in store.
“Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).
During the past month, we’ve been looking forward to Christmas, Jesus’s first coming. Now let’s draw our attention to His second coming. I have high hopes for my life in 2025, but over and above my goals and plans, I’m now ready to shout:
“Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
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This post supports the study “Looking Forward with Expectation” in Bible Studies for Life and YOU.
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