I recently received an invitation to speak in chapel at a local Christian academy. They asked me to speak on the topic, “Patience.” I thought that was a great idea and responded that I could not wait to be with them. Well, actually I was going to respond that way, but realized if I did so, I would be like the fellow who received a medal for humility, then had to give it back when he was caught wearing it!

I have never been very good with patience. My philosophy has always been “get it done, do it right the first time, and have it ready yesterday.” As you might expect, this means I usually excelled at schoolwork and on the job performance reviews. And, I suspect my impatience and zeal probably have contributed to a number of stress-related health problems as well as my difficulties sleeping. As a task-oriented person I have had to learn- and relearn- that people are as important as the mission. Indeed, they are the mission.

Impatience has been my undoing, more times than I have the patience to remember. One series of events stands out vividly. Years ago I pastored a small church in New Jersey while pursuing doctoral studies. I did not like New Jersey. It was an expensive place to live, taxes were high, and I suspected the entire state was on the toxic waste Superfund clean-up list. I just wanted to get out of New Jersey. And so I complained to the Lord quite regularly about my plight. Well, the Army accessioned me to Active Duty- and stationed me at Fort Dix. That’s right: Fort Dix, New Jersey. I moved down the turnpike about an hour’s worth of exits and began afresh and anew my complaints to the Lord about being in New Jersey.

Finally, the Lord saw fit to answer my prayers and move me out of New Jersey. The Army ordered me to the Republic of Korea for a year- and I discovered there were places worse than New Jersey! I was stationed at Camp Essayons in Uijongbu, about 20 kilometers from a 1 million-man North Korean army that wanted to kill me and everyone else in a US or ROK uniform. As one of the four Asian Tigers, South Korea’s rapid economic expansion in the 1980s had a disastrous impact on the environment, making it much worse than New Jersey. When I finally came home, I told everyone how glad I was to be back; I had not known how good I had it! I learned two things from this experience: 1) getting patience is a life-long process, and 2) be careful what you pray for- you just might get it.

So, confession time: I still suffer from lack of patience, and that lack undergoes particular strain about this time every December. Each year, as the Amazon packages come in and the Christmas presents pile up, I find it very difficult to wait for Christmas morning and the “unveiling” of all things wrapped. I have a bad habit of telling family members that “a new shipment just arrived from the North Pole.” Sometimes I will bring a box in, rattle it a bit, offer a few hints, and ask if anyone can guess what is inside. I just can’t wait to see everyone’s expression when they open their presents and I hate keeping the contents secret. My impatience with Advent’s slow march to Christmas is well-known and the source of much jesting. My wife says that on matters of pastoral confidentiality, I am like a bank vault. Nothing ever leaks out. But keeping secrets on Christmas gifts? Well, more like a screen door on a submarine.

Now, there are only four weeks in Advent, so this should not be such a difficult matter or a trial for anyone’s patience. Four weeks! I can’t imagine what it was like for the children of Israel, who throughout centuries waited as the hope of the promised Messiah burned in their hearts, sometimes brightly, other times more faintly. Through slavery in Egypt to exile in Babylon, the people of God faced the darkness of paganism without, and unfaithfulness within. And through it all the people of Israel waited patiently, with confidence that God one day would fulfill his promise.

With the close of Malachi’s prophecy, there was no prophetic word for about 450 years. Still the people of God waited with patience. Then one day, John the Baptist appeared on the scene and announced, with prophetic voice, the coming of the kingdom- and the promised Messiah. John 1:29 says: “The next day he [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” Matthew 4:15,16 tells us that Jesus began his ministry by moving to Capernaum, by the lake in the area of Zebulon and Naphtali, fulfilling the Isaiah’s prophecy: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles- the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Those who waited with patience finally saw the salvation of the Lord revealed!

Some things ARE worth waiting for, even if millennia must pass from the first promise of Messiah in Genesis 3:15 to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Even if for 450 silent years, the people of God must wait for a Word from the Lord. With patience, our Heavenly Father waited; and when the time was fully right, God “sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4,5). When I think of my sins and failures, I am thankful that divine “Love is patient and kind . . . does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant” (1 Cor. 13:7). I am so glad that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you [and me!], not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

When you think of the centuries of waiting for the birth of Jesus, waiting through four weeks of Advent for Christmas isn’t such a big deal, is it? So, sign me up for not rushing through Advent, for not rattling as many gift boxes, and for cutting back on the hints. And speaking of four weeks- the chapel service is scheduled for January 7th. I don’t have a lot of time, so I better get cracking right now . . . and figure out what I am going to say about patience! Maybe . . . , well, maybe I’ll just come clean and tell them I am not very good at this, that getting patience is a life-long process, and I still have MUCH to learn. But, I will also tell them that our Heavenly Father, who “does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10), is full of “kindness and forbearance and patience” (Rom. 2:4).

When the time is right, Christmas WILL come! Until then, let us wait with patience for the Father’s unspeakable Gift.

R. J. Gore, Jr. is a minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and currently serves as Professor of Systematic Theology at Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, SC. This article first appeared on the blog of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Easley, SC and is used with permission. Source: http://mycovenantpc.com/blogs/item/123-waiting-for-christmas