Worth waiting for (til kingdom come)

I can recall with great clarity listening to sermons about the second coming of Christ in high school, frequently shifting my position in an uncomfortable church pew.  Equally as uncomfortable was the thought of how many generations have waited for the return of Jesus, our liberating King, but did not live to see His second arrival.  I use to think to myself, "What if this is all a sham and He never comes, then where will we be?"

Musicians and poets create some of the most beautifully eager compositions about "kingdom come."  Everyone from Johnny Cash to U2 to Coldplay has put into song and lyric the hope and expectation of something better to come.  In our everyday speech we live for better days when we say, "Maybe tomorrow will be better" or "tomorrow's a new day."  Phony news magazines make a killing off of bored stay-at-home moms who desire to know about "the end of the world," as predicted by Nostradamus.  What is our anxious fascination with how it will all end?

I'm in a unique position because I, myself, am waiting to be married.  I have this eager, yet sometimes pensive, emotion inside of me that wants the time to fly by!  I am eager because I want to know her more deeply.  I am pensive because she will know me more deeply (all of me).  However,  I am in love so I can hardly wait until I see my love again, even prior to the wedding.  This fascination I have over Jesus certainly drives my expectation for the consummation, but I believe there is more to this eagerness.  

Garth Brooks has an old song, yes I listen to country, called, "If tomorrow never comes."  It's your typical sad, country song but its sentiment is valuable.  When Jesus was here, very few people were really hip to His program.  Mostly everyone took Him for granted and then suddenly He was being executed.  His conquering of death gives us hope for new life even after we or someone we love has died.  I am reminded of what it means to consider the cost of Christ's sacrificial life and death, followed by new life.  I do look forward to the return of Jesus because I am in love.  I also look forward to "kingdom come" because this planet groans and knows what it is missing while the King is away.  I am eager for the fullness of time when, as Johnny Cash put it, "The father hen will call his chickens home."