As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
7Therefore,
brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. Look! The farmer awaits the
precious fruit of the earth, being patient upon it, until he receives [the]
early and latter [rains]. 8You, also, be patient and establish your
hearts, because the coming of the Lord has drawn near.
In my studies, I ran across this quote from F.B. Hole,
commenting on these verses:
“His coming is our hope, and these
words of exhortation ought to come to us with tenfold force today. Are we
tested, our hearts oppressed with the burden of unrighted wrongs? “Be ye also
patient,” is the word for us. Do we feel unsettled, everything around and
within seemingly insecure and shaking? The message comes to us, “Stablish your
hearts.” Does it seem as if we are everlastingly sowing without effect? Do we
plough and wait, and plough and wait, until we are tempted to think that we are
but ploughing sands? “Be patient,” is the word for us, “unto the coming of the
Lord.”
“Do we feel unsettled, everything around and within
seemingly insecure and shaking?” “Yes!” I would respond. This pretty much
describes the world we live in today. I often remember Don McLean’s words from
American Pie, “I met a girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy
news, but she just smiled and turned away.” I don’t think ever in my life has
the world seemed more utterly hopeless. I don’t remember the last time I heard
anything encouraging. The news is all bad. The government is hopeless. They are
utterly incapable of doing anything that actually helps us. Everything just
goes from bad to worse. I’d just as soon be done with it all and I fear to
think what kind of world my grandchildren will have to live in.
Yet, what does our passage say? “Establish your hearts.” “Be
patient until the coming of the Lord.” “Establish your hearts” – yes, remember that
“love is all you need.” In the midst of all this despair, can I still choose to
love the people around me? Can I still choose to go to work and do my job the
best I can, to be kind to the people I work with, and do what I can to brighten
their worlds? Can I still love my wife and be attentive to her needs, love my
children and grandchildren and try to be encouraging them to them, to pray for
them all? Can I still be determined to smile and be kind to the grocery clerk?
Yes, yes, yes. Love is all you need. Even in this bleak,
weary, hopeless world. Even if the government only gets worse and life grows
more unbearable. Can I still love? Yes. And isn’t that really all that matters
in the end? Yes.
And why is it that love is all that matters in the end?
Because “the Coming of the Lord is drawing near.” He who is love is coming. In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, all that is not love will suddenly be
gone. All the hopelessness. All the cruelty and oppression of the rich and
powerful over us peasants. The Sun of Love will suddenly appear and all the
darkness of this earthly night will be dispelled forever. And what will be
rewarded? “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”
I don’t know about anyone else, but that is enormously
encouraging to me. I need to keep reminding myself that love is all that
matters. No matter how bleak the world, I need to let love shine from my heart.
When Love comes -- and He will – then love itself will be our reward. So let us
keep on loving. Let us establish our hearts in this resolve; let us set the
fencepost of our minds in the concrete of this determination – to love no matter
what. May it make us brave. “Be kind and have courage,” she said.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you should love one
another. As I have loved you, so also you should love one another.”
Yes. I am easily shaken, but love doesn’t have to be.
Yes. God help me. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
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