Advent reminds us that Jesus is coming again.  The Bible describes us as those who “long for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).  How much do we long?  I was challenged by Michael Lloyd’s words:

“Do we long for the appearing of Christ and the putting right of the world’s wrongs?  Or have we made our peace with the current compromised state of the world?  Have we become so inured to the injustices of our world (because our lifestyles are so dependant upon them?)  that we harbour no hatred for them in our hearts?  The amount that we long for the appearing of Christ is probably the amount we oppose evil.  If we want to know how much compassion we have, we merely have to ask ourselves how much we long for the coming of the One who will heal all the hurts and bind up the broken-hearted” (Michael Lloyd Cafe Theology, 2005 Alpha International, p322)