Expectant Living

A group of expectant fathers were in a waiting room, while their wives were in the process of delivering babies. A nurse came in and announced to one man that his wife had just given birth to twins. "That's quite a coincidence" he responded, "I play for the Minnesota Twins!" A few minutes later another nurse came in and announced to another man that he was the father of triplets. "That's amazing," he exclaimed, "I work for the 3M company." At that point, a third man slipped off his chair and laid down on the floor. Somebody asked him if he was feeling ill. "No," he responded, "I happen to work for the 7-up company!"

Christians are people of “the promise”. Galatians 3: 29  says, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” We are living, right now, in expectation of that promise! He has promised that we will live with Him, that he will prepare a place for us and come back to get us.(John 14: 3)  We are also living the first part of our eternal life right now. Once you have put your faith in Christ and been buried in baptism you have begun a life that will never end.

Ironically, now that I think of it, everyone is living a life that will never end.  We will all appear somewhere for eternity after this life the question is just where are you going to spend it, but enought about that. Christians need to be living expectantly; like they know something better, something amazing  is coming!
 

You learn a lot about Expectant Living being an expectant father. My wife told me on St. Patrick's day that we were going to have twins and I believed her.  I had no reason not to believe her.  She had never lied about anything like this before, why start now?  This belief started to slowly change my life.  People would ask, “ I hear you are expecting!” and I would say, “Yup, can't wait.”, or, “Yes, we're very excitied”. When we were expecting the twins I got this alot! Everyone wanted to see my reaction to: “Boy I bet you'll be busy this summer!” and I would smile and wave, “Yessiree Bob! We sure will be” and then mutter something else under my breath! 🙂

Unlike Moms, an expectant father has a unique perspective on this blessing to come. At first it can be hard to believe for the first few months that anything different was happening at all. There is little to no substantial evidence that anything has occurred: "So you peed on a stick and there are two lines, let me try and see if I can get two lines too!"  Finally after a few months the first kick or the ultrasound will get you thinking in a whole new way.  I never doubted for a second that Julie was really pregnant with twins but after I saw the evidence or felt the two butts at the same time I started to believe in a whole new way. This new belief is an active belief.  How else could wives get husbands to paint rooms, strip furniture, or buy snugglies or head huggers?

Consider 2 Peter 3: 12-14

You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

This “looking forward” is from the Greek word prosdoka which here means to expect with certainty. An illustration of this word is found in Acts 28:6 where Paul is bitten by the snake. The observers were expecting him to swell up and drop dead. This “ looking forward” is not a benign wishing but instead a passionate expectation that takes hold of you and in partnership with you willingness, transforms you into the image of Christ. The difference between expectation or hope, and empty wishing is faith.

Through United Press comes the report that termites have eaten through a large stack of pamphlets entitled, Control of Termites, in the mailing room of the University of California at Berkeley. Maintenance men made the discovery. One would naturally expect that university buildings would be free of termites, because at such a center of higher education so much is known of termites and the destruction they cause. But it is one thing to have in a pamphlet the information concerning the control of termites, and quite another thing to make a practical application of that information!

Living expectantly means believing: having Faith! Not a dead faith; a window sill heirloom kind of faith but an active breathing dynamic faith: a certain belief that God is who He says he is and He can do what He said He would do.

If I told you there was a fire in your home, and you believed me what would you do? You would be out the door in a flash! If you sat there and said, “Thanks for the info!” and didn't go anywhere I would be convinced that you had no faith in what I said at all.

James says “Faith without works is dead” (James 2: 26). There are many definitions of Faith out there but one of my favourites is, "Faith as a belief, demonstrated through action". No specific action is required to validate it as faith, but faith shows.

Let's live expectantly: Certain that the best is yet to come!

More on this idea later.

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