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PROGRAM D-7717

How many times as parents have we said to our children, “In just a little while”? They want something now and we keep advising them that they’ll have to wait “a little while,” and of course that never seems to satisfy them. “In a little while” sounds like forever to them.

I’m talking about Jesus’ admonition to us who are Christ-followers—his “in just a little while”—which we have trouble accepting just like our children do when we say it to them. In one of his last conversations with his disciples, which we find recorded in John 16, Jesus said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.”

This totally confused the disciples, and they questioned among themselves what Jesus meant. Knowing their confusion, Jesus went on to say to them:  “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

We are living today in this “little while” that Jesus referred to. It’s the time between when Jesus first came to earth and then after his death, burial and resurrection, returned to the Father, and the time he has promised to come again and we will join him in his righteous kingdom. And this “little while” is exactly that in light of eternity. It’s a blink of the eye compared to endless time when we will be with Jesus. But oh my, it seems long to us sometimes, doesn’t it?

What is burdening you down right now? What is sapping your joy and your strength? What is giving you that run-away feeling, causing you discouragement and grief? I want to remind you that in just a little while this little time will end and if you are a Christ-follower and you’ve been born into God’s family by faith in Jesus Christ, you will again rejoice and no one can take away that joy—in just a little while.

So, focus your eyes on eternity today, don’t let the enemy of your soul beat you down, because it’s just a little while until we will see Jesus and we will rejoice again.