Since we don’t know who knows the Lord or not, we must treat all with respect and compassion. Let others witness our waiting. I waited patiently yesterday at the store – I think the person in front of me was trying something sketchy but not really making a scene but maybe was making a distraction to steal something – or maybe not – I could be totally wrong… He could have been one of those folks just easily frustrated, he hung up both self-checkouts and then bumped the regular line. I could have complained what was rolling thru my head but waited where I thought I should.   Waited and prayed instead of fretting… Waiting and praying was my best course of action since didn’t want to make a scene either. I felt bad either way at his anxiety, maybe he was fine, but it was weird. I am no saint, Jesus knows. We wait as a judge all while ignoring our own judgement. No salvation comes by us to us, only from Him. Me knowing Jesus doesn’t justify my judgement of others, only strengthens my need of Jesus. We need to need Him. We wait upon Him now and in His return.

We wait.

I’m blessed to be waiting for my vaccination turn. I’m grateful that I am still well, well enough to work, well enough to wait. It is something I look forward to getting. We will see the double whammy of reduced cases soon. Our spring will be sprung. We will see the sun. I am also looking forward to Easter coming up, with new life, new hope, a renewed sense of peace. We will see the Son, we will feel hope, we will see the Risen Lord.

When we know the Lord, we can see how He gives us such peace so we can wait and await all these things – simple as that. So, let’s witness while I wait. (I will whistle while I wait too: Safe thus far!) … If we have already accepted Jesus – we should not worry. Yes that is easy to say and hard to do, but okay we must be with knowing He has our hope.

But we are NOT okay, as a whole population, knowing total renewed life, now and/or life after death, all reaching salvation, because there are so many people who don’t know the Lord. (Or sadly who’s rotting branch is now fallingdown ready to crack.) So let us offer a prayer of hope the Lord will find them in time during their time here on Earth… Let us say to them “Don’t wait. The Lord is great”. Our witness may help them not wait. Demonstrating FAITH in a fire is a stronger FORCE in us than fear. We should remind ourselves and others that if you focus on the Lord, everything else fades away. Wait not in anxiety but in wonder. 

We are NOT to wallow in our existence or tribulations. We are to tremble in the powerful presence of God and feel blessed with the gain of the Holy Spirit directing our lives. We are to actively walk with Jesus. How is your walk? I was grafted into understanding the importance of rooting myself in the Lord, knowing my graft to the Vine Jesus, my anchor held behind the veil, my dependence on His Spirit. How about you? Do you feel like you spiritually grew when you hear Jesus say: “Hey, I know you.” I still need His daily Vining – my daily cross carrying – our daily bread.

Paul’s instructions to the Romans AND us: “… you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.”

This morning I was at the convenience store to get my son a breakfast sandwich before school. It’s close to my house, so I just wear my PJ’s, I’m ok with that and a big coat to cover me. The couple in front of me found the leftover coins in the change dispenser, placed them in the donation bucket. She told the cashier that she does that often, or she gives her change to someone if they look like they need it.  No, they didn’t give it to me, I apparently didn’t look THAT disheveled, especially with my fabulous polka dot mask on… So as I thought about their sweet intentional gesture to see the people in need, that this also relates to how we should relate to the world.  We need to give hope. We should think about people in the need of prayer and we should think about blessing people who don’t know the Lord. Pray for them. Share with all. We should live as saved people and be grateful. Share Jesus, friendliness, patience, goodness, and hope (and more than a few coins of compassion) with those who don’t know the Lord. In action and verbally we can support the root of our hope, the Lord whose Goodness allows us to bear His fruit.

Greater is the Lord we know than the tribulations in the world, if all the world could know that. We can be well enough to WAIT and well enough to WITNESS. Let us not harden our hearts but be soft in speaking and solid in understanding.

Let others WITNESS US WHILE WE WAIT.

AMEN

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Romans 11: 13-27

I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

All Israel Will Be Saved

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”