Hope Deferred

Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

Everyone has something they are hoping for, or looking forward to. Workers often look forward to their day off with great anticipation of getting to rest, and become very disappointed, or even angry, when their boss announces that they will have to work that day. School children hope for snow so that school will be cancelled, and are often sad when it doesn’t work out for them. Families of our troops who are serving overseas anxiously await the day when their loved ones will come home, and suffer a lot of disappointment when there is a delay in their return. We all have hopes and dreams, saved and unsaved alike, and it grieves us when we have to wait for them to be fulfilled.

As Christians we have the hope of the return of Jesus to take us home, and should be looking forward to that day more than any other. If we’re not homesick for Heaven, and determined to get as many people there as possible, then we need to seriously examine our priorities. Jesus said in Luke 14:23 to “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” If we want His house to be full, we need to get out there and get to work for Him.