Daily Devotionals
2021
Thursday, December 2
Lori Chang
“…in every way you were enriched in him…so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end…” (1 Corinthians 1:5, 7-8a)
Waiting. An activity I tolerate at best but generally endure with frustration and impatience. Over the course of the pandemic, with all the stress and uncertainty, the waiting has been burdensome: For the lockdown to end. For a vaccine to be developed and deployed. For school and church to reopen. For the chance to see my friends in person again. And these were added to the usual waiting of ordinary life.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul does not shy away from the reality that we almost certainly will spend our entire lives waiting for the return of Christ. The whole church has spent the past two thousand years waiting for this glorious revealing of her Lord and Bridegroom.
Waiting often results from some lack in our lives or from something that is awry. We lack his presence with us in the flesh. We lack the perfections of heaven. Our lives are awry with sin and selfishness. The very world is awry with brokenness and rebellion.
And so we wait for Christ to set it to rights.
Paul reassured the Corinthians (and us) that they had been enriched in Christ so that they would not lack any gift as they waited for Christ’s return. What a paradox—that we wait because of what we lack, yet in our waiting, we suffer no lack in order to wait.
Still, we ask what it means to wait. Are we but marking time until Christ’s return? By no means! “Lead me in your truth and teach me…For you I wait all the day long,” writes the psalmist. (Psalm 25:5) What is the Lord teaching me in this season of waiting? What is he teaching you? How does he invite us to discover his provision in our waiting?
Lori lives in Watertown and has been attending Park Street since she and her husband, Simon, were married 18 years ago. She is passionate about singing. Even though she hates being dirty, she now also loves working at a farm with her daughter.