Finish The Run Before the Whistle Blows

“Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” (Jas 5:8 AV)

 

James wrote this almost two thousand years ago.  It is just as true today as it was back then.  Some may look at this and limit His coming to His return before the Millennial reign.  Upon limiting it only to the second coming, they argue that if this was written two thousand years ago and Jesus hasn’t come yet, then surely we can go another two thousand years without His second coming.  To do so misses the point.  Earlier in his letter, James advises the saint not to boast of the future.  He tells his readers it is not wise to make plans as certain as we think they might be without considering God’s sovereign hand in all of it.  Specifically speaking, where it applies to the length of life.  He states, correctly so, that life is but a vapor and it is gone before we know it.  He was speaking of our death and not the second coming.  So, in the verse above, it could mean His second coming.  But it could also mean our graduation into glory.

One of the hardest shifts to work is the last shift before a holiday break.  You know when the whistle blows, everything will be shut down and a long-deserved break commences.  It is very difficult to punch in.  All we have on our minds is the end of the shift, knowing that in eight or twelve hours, we will be heading home for a time of refreshing with our family and loved ones.  We are impatient.  We want the holiday to start before it begins.  We punch in, we try to have a full heart with the tasks at hand, and we count down the minutes before we can punch out.  There were two types of products we manufactured.  There were the plates that were always run no matter what.  This product ran on the same line all the time.  The only difference was the packaging.  It was the same plate and same count.  Doing a change over required very little.  The line did not need to stop.  Bags and boxes were changed out on the run.  Other types of runs required a mold change, a material change, an equipment change, and packaging changes.  If we were running the later type on the last day before a holiday, this was a motivating factor to hustling.  If we could end the run before the final minute of our shift, then the line could be shut down and the next shift that came in after the break could spend their shift setting up for a new run.  We saw the clock ticking down and rushed to get down what we could.  This later example is comparable to our lives.  There is a course that is to be run.  Some tasks need to be completed.  Our clock is ticking down and there are precious few days left.

We cannot allow the situation of our lives or the world to overwhelm the heart that we cease to patiently work until our final whistle blows.  James tells us to do two things.  We are to be patient.  This points to patient continuance.  He is instructing us to continue in that which God has called us to do.  We are not to get sidetracked with all that pummels us, tempting us to panic at the affairs of this life.  Just keep rowing the boat no matter what the waves are doing.  Stay the course and work hard.  But then James tells us we need to get our emotions under control.  We are to establish the heart.  This means our hearts, or emotions, cannot be all over the place.  They have to be under control.  Whether the line is on fire, or we are approaching the seventh hour with no hope of finishing the run, we are not to allow the affairs of this life to carry us away from that which God has called us to do.  He is coming back.  Either His second coming or our home-going, it will happen.  Be patient.  Don’t allow fear and anxiety to take over.  He will be back before you know it.