The Late Blog

For the past ten days I have been vacationing with family in the Sunshine Coast area of BC. We arrived back home last evening and this morning I had a load of running around to do; go to the library, pick up some groceries, collect the post, and so on. It was while I was driving around that I suddenly realized, I haven’t written a faithblog for today! I’ll do it later, I reasoned, After all, better late than never.

Then I got to thinking about being late. There once was a time, long ago before my time, when being late was rude and was frowned upon in many circles. You could lose your job, your date, and dinner reservations if you were even marginally late. Remember the White Rabbit in Alice In Wonderland? He appears at the very beginning of the book muttering frantically to himself “Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!” The people of yesteryear were like this in that they took promptness very seriously.

Then someone decided that being late was fashionable, and ever since people in general have been somewhat tardy. We think nothing if we’re a little late for work, blaming it on the traffic, kids, or weather. And what about being late for a date, dinner engagement, or classes?

I’m not out to berate anyone, I myself have been late on more than one occasion. However, I do believe that being punctual shows respect. For example, some of you have been eagerly awaiting this blog, with bated breath, desperate to read more musings of a brilliant mind… okay, maybe in my dreams, save the emails:) But most of us get frustrated when the doctor is running late or when our flights, trains or buses are behind schedule.

How many of us would put up with a pastor who turned up too late to preach, a teacher who was late to teach, and a midwife who was late to deliver baby? It seems to me that when it comes to being late we live by double standards; it’s okay for me to be late, but woe betide anyone who is late on my watch!

If we look at all this through our lens of faith, we can know without a doubt that God is never late. If we read through Scripture, God is seen acting at just the right times. If we look at history, we can see God stepping in at just the right time. When I look at my life, there have been times when I have questioned God’s timing, but when all is said and done I realize that God was never early, never late, but always on time.

Looking to the future, believers everywhere are eagerly awaiting the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus, and we can know, by faith, that God is going to come back at just the right time. Sometimes, we watch helplessly as famine, flood, earthquake, war, and disease tear this world apart and kill millions of people, and at those times it’s easy to think that God has forgotten us, or is extremely late.

There have been times when, like most believers, I have cried out, “How long Lord?” When I see the death and destruction and chaos running rampant in this world… “How long Lord?” But then we read, “Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.” 2 Peter 3:8-9 (The Message)

We can be sure, again by faith, that as soon as the Father says “GO!” Jesus will return and take us to be with Him in glory. He hasn’t forgotten us, and He is not late, beyond that let’s leave the perfect timing to God.

In the meantime God wants us to busy ourselves with sharing His love with those around us. As the above Scripture reminds us, “(He’s) holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.” 2 Peter 3:9

Christian St John M.Div, BChM, ACS
October, 2008

Image by Steve Woods