"Are You Coming Back Daddy?"

This morning as I left for work, Lincoln, my 3 year old son, asked me, "Are you coming back daddy?". It seems he is in the habit of asking this everytime I leave the house to go somewhere. And of course I don't mind b/c it speaks volumns of our relationship together as a son and a Father.
We love to be together. We wrestle, dribble basketballs around the house (not sure mommy likes that too much), play outside, and do all of the things fathers and sons do. He's become my little side kick as I've taken him to some ball games so we can be together.
But something else comes out of his question as I leave the house. It's his need for me to be around. He relies on me to be there, to hold him, to play w/ him, to comfort him, to teach him, to trip him when he walks by (ok so he might get annoyed w/ that), etc.
He has come to realize his need for me as a father but more importantly that he needs me to come back.

Something about this has helped me to realize what the disciples felt when Jesus began predicting everything he was going to suffer in his last days and how he was going to be w/ the Father. John 13:33- Jesus tells the disciples, "My children, I will be w/ you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come."
Its here you can see the disciples hearts begin to drop as their Rabbi, their best friend begins to start saying good-bye. And its here that perhaps the disciples want to ask the question, "Are you coming back?" They recognize their dependence on Jesus, their need for Jesus. Do we?

But this was hard for them to hear. So Jesus knowing this says, "Do not let your heart's be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. I am going to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you to be w/ me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:1-3).
Just as the disciples hearts begin to break and wonder if Jesus will come back, Jesus promises them he will.

Jesus did return. He went to the cross, went to the grave, and rose again. He came back! In fact, Acts 1:3 says, "He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of heaven." The gospels record who he spoke w/ and what he said, but the point I am making is that Jesus promised the disciples he would come back.
Now shortly after this 40 days of teaching, Jesus leaves again to be w/the Father. But as he promised in talking about end times in Matt 24:30, Jesus says, "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, w/ power and great glory."
So its hear again that Jesus tells us that he is coming back. Just as he went to the grave, he was resurrected. And just as he ascended to the Father, he promises he will return. Jesus will come back.

Maybe as you read this, you have a troubled heart. Your family is a mess, you've been through a divorce, your kids are out of control, you are a single parent trying to make it work, you struggle w/ depression, you have suicidal thoughts or are cutting. And you are wondering, "when is Jesus going to show up?"
Maybe you are reading this and looking around at the social crisis of our world. People are starving to death, orphans need parents, people are losing their jobs, and the needs of the opressed continue to go unmet. And you wonder, "when is Jesus going to fix this and right the wrongs of this world?"
Maybe you are reading this and are looking at the church. And you wonder, "why is the church not being the body of Christ." And you ask, "When is Jesus going to come back and fix his bride."

First let me say, that while Jesus promised to return, he never left us alone. In John 14:25-26, Jesus says, "All this I have spoken while still w/ you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everythng I have said to you."
Jesus promises that when he leaves to be w/ the Father he is going to send the Holy Spirit, a Counselor to be w/ us to teach us and remind us about his teachings. So its important for us to know that we are not alone as we eargerly wait for Jesus to come back.

Second, we must never lose hope in His return. I know it seems like he will never come back. I know there are those who say he isn't coming back. I know that when Peter writes, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief" (2 Peter 3:10), meaning, we won't know when he is coming, it doesn't mean he will never come.

So the promise is this: Jesus will return. Our call is this: Faithfully follow him w/out losing hope. When I left the house this morning, I told Lincoln I'd come back. When Jesus went to be the w/ the Father, he promised he would come back.

So may we not let our hearts be troubled knowing that Jesus has prepared a room for us.
May we endure the hardships and frustrations of our world w/ an unwaivering hope.
And may we believe the promise of Jesus that one day, he will come back.

BW