“Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:9-10).
After we have “turned to God” from our sins, through His Son, who said that “no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” then we are privileged “to serve ... and to wait,” with “labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” It is doubtful if any Christian can “serve the living and true God” rightly, unless, while so serving, he is “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And it is equally doubtful if any Christian can rightly “wait for His Son from heaven,” unless, while so waiting, he is exercising “faith which worketh by love,” for our Lord said, “Occupy till I come.” So let us “serve” in the consciousness that we are waiting, and let us “wait” in the expectation of His promise: “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be,” and with the realization that “in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.”
Serving and waiting for Him,
The Lord of life and glory,
Seeking to show forth His grace,
To tell the gospel story.
John 14:6; 1 Thess. 1:3; 1 Cor. 1:7; Gal. 5:6; Luke 19:13; Rev. 22:12; Gal. 6:9; Col. 3:23-24.