Come, Lord Jesus
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Come, Lord Jesus |
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Scripture: John 14:15-24 "Come, Lord Jesus!" we pray during worship. Are we praying that you will come into our hearts, filling us with strength and grace? If so, I can join heartily in that prayer. For some the words mean something else. They speak of the Second Coming - expecting your sudden return in glory, destroying evil, and gathering the faithful, living and dead, into your eternal presence. They look forward eagerly to that "last day", searching with awe and anticipation in scripture and world events for signs of its coming. I find that kind of thinking strange and remote from my own needs, an escape from the real world. Could "Come, Lord Jesus" refer to the ending of our own earthly lives? Sometimes Christians, growing old, weary and increasingly frail, cry, "Come, Lord Jesus", looking forward to the time of their own release. So your servant Paul could write with confidence, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Your goodness and mercy have indeed followed me all the days of my life and will not cease when you call me home. Could it be that all these meanings are to be found in that one simple prayer? No wonder we have made it part of our worship. Together we invite you to enter our lives, fill us with your grace and, at our ending, lead us home. Then in your own time we believe you will bring about the triumph of your Kingdom and the end of time. Come then, Lord Jesus, to me, to your church, and to the whole of your creation. To your Name be the glory and the praise for ever and ever. Amen. © Selwyn Dawson |
