Just about anyone you ask these days will tell you things in this world seem to be getting worse. We live in a time in which there is a lot of pain and struggle. Rampant disease, political division, economic turmoil, and rapid change mark this period of history. As a result, over the last couple of years you have surely heard someone say that “Revelation is unfolding right before us.” This sentiment is often followed by the declaration, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Some of us wonder at times why Jesus hasn’t come back yet, as bad as things seem to be in this world. What is he waiting on? 2 Peter 3:9 gives an answer to that question. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Jesus is not slow to fulfill the promise of his return, though it seems at times that he is. No, he is unbelievably patient with the world he loved enough to die for. The reason he hasn’t returned yet is because he is still working on bringing lost people to himself. There are still souls to be saved, and he’s not giving up on them too quickly!

Sometimes we just long for the day Jesus will return. But aren’t you glad that he was patient enough to wait for you to come to him? His desire is that everyone else would take that same step. And the amazing thing is that we are called to help make that happen by proclaiming the Gospel to the lost and making disciples! May those two things be central in our lives as we step into 2022!