Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shana: This is Shana on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Do you ever wish that Jesus would hurry up? Joni and I do. Listen now as she explains.

Joni Eareckson Tada: Even the Apostle John said more than a few times, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Even so, come quickly." With all that's going on, I am looking forward to the new world coming. I'm a woman of Second Peter chapter 3, verse 13. We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

Don't you love that word home? I mean, think of all that home in its best sense means: warmth, acceptance, a place of love and welcome where you belong, where you're wanted and loved, enjoyed and celebrated. Home is a place where being you is helped along by your connections with everyone else in the house. In the truest sense, it's a place where we fit like nowhere else.

Right now in our world, there's so much upheaval. Everything is erratic and stressful, and our souls feel ill at ease. No wonder. It just shows our souls are not quite at home on the current earth. This fallen planet is filled with loneliness and despair, and the deepest part of you longs for something more, something better than this.

True, every once in a while, such as in our own homes with our own families, we are refreshed by long moments of peace and quiet when everyone and everything around us is tranquil. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were that way all the time now in our houses, our homes, and beyond, in our communities and around the world? Well, one day it will be so. Goodness and righteousness, kindness, courtesy, joy, and peace will have come home to stay.

Until that time, we look forward with that Second Peter chapter 3 perspective. We say, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus." This poem by Ruth Hoskins says it so well. She writes: "Oh dear God, where there will only be goodness. After centuries of war, greed and lust, after indulgences shamelessly practiced, after hatred, hostility, jealousy and abuse, murder and martyrdom, crime and cruelty, curses and rebellion. After whimpering cries from starving children, after tragedy and catastrophe, loneliness and despair, at last, at long last, there will be only goodness. Oh dear Lord, Your promise is Your guarantee, but please, hurry it up a little."

I love that poem, and it shows our Savior standing at the door. He's nearer than He's ever been. And so I am going to do everything I can to make my surroundings look and feel more like home. I'm going to hurry God's promise a little by spreading His righteousness today. It's one surefire way to expedite the coming of Christ. This world may not be our home, but let's show it what home should be like and feel like, what the home of righteousness should look like.

Let's pave the way for our Savior by engaging others with kindness and goodness, righteousness, and right living. Let's practice civil discourse and celebrate civility. Let's speak good of Christ to our neighbors and friends.

Shana: So friend, during these trying times, these times that may even feel unusual and stressful, please let's you and I take Joni's words to heart and keep finding ways to hurry Jesus' coming. Let's hurry God's promise by spreading His righteousness right now today. May His kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray that way, friend, but more importantly, let's live that way.