#1385 – Come, Lord Jesus

I’ve grown up in the church my entire life. There are a lot of Christian phrases that get thrown around, some of which don’t make a lot of sense.

Hedge of protection.

Passing the peace.

Fellowship hall.

“Come, Lord Jesus” is another phrase that always confused me a little bit. I understood it conceptually, that someone who said “Come, Lord Jesus” was asking Jesus to hasten his return. I always wondered, though, why someone would want Jesus to return so quickly? In my mind Jesus’ return was something to be feared, probably because I was scared of all the apocalyptic imagery in Revelation. Also, if Jesus came back too soon I would have missed out on a lot.

These days, though, I can’t help but echo all of those people who silently prayed our loudly shouted “Come, Lord Jesus.” Maybe it’s because I’ve gotten married, had a baby and have experienced 13 movies in the Marvel Cinematic universe; that’s an embarrassment of riches far beyond my wildest dreams. More likely, though, I’m ready for Jesus’ return because this world is so broken and so far removed from its original intention.

In the past few days, two black men were shot and killed by police and then five Dallas police officers were shot and killed.

Over the past month, Isis has turned the holy month of Ramadan into a violent bloodbath, killing close to 400 people.

In my beloved United States, our fractured and polarized political system has left us with two options for President, neither of which I relish seeing in the White House.

Not to mention the friends and family members we all know who are fighting cancer, battling addiction or simply trying to make it through life.

Come, Lord Jesus, indeed.

I’m generally a positive person. I hope that my blog and my life encourage people to follow Jesus and partner with him as he continues to work in this world. Looking at the state of this world, though, it’s easy to get discouraged. In the face of so much injustice, violence, sorrow and death, what can we do?

I feel like Théoden, King of Rohan. When faced with the violence and evil of the Urkuk-hai, Théoden was paralyzed; he couldn’t move. Thankfully Aragorn was there to encourage him to ride out, to do something. When they rode out against the Uruk-hai, even in the face of such evil, the sun dawned and Gandalf was there to turn the tide.

I pray that the same thing happens when we ride out against evil, sin, injustice and brokenness. Even though we can be paralyzed by what we see in the world, we have to continue to hope that our efforts aren’t meaningless. We have to hope that as we continue to fight for truth, justice, beauty and love, that the sun will eventually dawn and Jesus will be there waiting to turn the tide.

I can’t stop people from shooting each other. But I can teach Clara how to respect people of all races and cultural backgrounds.

I can’t fly to the Middle East and fight Isis. But I can fight the irrational fears at home that would have us indiscriminately lump all Muslims in with the evil of Isis.

I can’t run for president. But I can encourage those around me to focus on what unites us rather than what divides us.

Our world is broken and when faced with that reality it should break out hearts. In spite of the complete brokenness we experience, though, we can never lose hope that Jesus will come and set everything right. In fact, he already came once and began the process of healing our world and bringing it back to its intended design. And because Jesus already came once, we can partner with him as he works in the world right now. Even as we look forward to the future, we constantly pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”