MARANATHA MINDSET

       

_“Our citizenship is in heaven.  And we eagerly await a Savior from there,  the Lord Jesus Christ.”(Philippians 3:  20)_

In the 1940s, Samuel Beckett wrote a play called “Waiting for Godot” which is now regarded as a classic.  Two men stand on an empty stage, hands in their pocket  staring at each other.  All they do is stand and stare.  There is no action, no plot, they just stand there waiting for Godot come.  But who is Godot?  Is he a person?  Does he represent God?  Christian ethicist Lewis Smedes suggests Godot  “stands for the dreams that a lot of people hang on to as an escape.”  As the play ends, those men are still standing on the stage doing nothing, just waiting. When the 50th anniversary of that play was celebrated  someone asked Beckett, “Now will you tell us who Godot is?”  Beckett answered “How should I know?”  Waiting for Godot is a parable of many of worldly people’s lives - empty and meaningless, a pointless matter of waiting. And if there is no God of love, grace and wisdom, then life is really a hopeless waiting for empty time to pass.  How totally different though, is Christian hope!  We are waiting and  looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Titus 2: 13)  That hope sustains us - a hope that beyond this world lies a life of indescribable blessing.

Dear friends, does your mind return frequently to the truth of Christ’s appearing?  If so is there an eagerness to see Him?  Do you pray for His coming?”  “Maranatha” prayed the early church!  “Come, Lord Jesus”!  Maranatha is a transliterated Aramaic word, which means “Our Lord, come!”  This phrase had become a watchword and a password.  It summed up the vital hope of the early church, and Christians whispered it to each other, identified each other by it  in a language which the heathen could not understand.  In short, Maranatha became the early church’s “Mindset!” The apostle John clearly had a “Maranatha Mindset” when he prayed “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus”, in response to Jesus’ promise,  “Yes, I am coming soon.” (Revelation 22: 20) Do we have that mind set?

*PRAYER*:Dear Lord, let me be ready for the “last moment” by being ready  at every moment.  Let me eagerly wait for Your coming.  At the same time  let me not live empty, meaningless life, but let me live in the hope that beyond this life there lies a great blessing - the heaven.  Amen.