Recently the fertile minds of Team Swap have been thinking more and more about something, and the longer we thought about it the more it made sense to us. The youth / singles campaign of “True Love Waits” is a great thing, but we as Christians, both married and single, are really missing a key lesson in this campaign. That lesson is in the slogan alone - “True Love Waits”
No member of Team Swap has never done an extensive study of the material, or even taught through the series, so what came to us may be common knowledge to those that have been involved with the series / project, but to us it was a new idea. The program’s slogan contains a powerful lesson that we all need to learn.
“True Love Waits” slogan exactly describes the love that Christ shows us in His patience. God truly loves us, and He shows us that love by waiting on us both to come to Him (instead of striking us dead as we deserve) and for waiting on us each time we fall, wonder off, drift off, rebel, etc after we accept Him. So, God’s love for us is the ultimate example of True Love Waiting, as He does not judge us as soon as we sin, nor does He require us to follow Him. God allows us to choose our own path, and then change our mind later when we do not like the path we choose, what great example of patience for us all. Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross is the ultimate example of patience as He died for us while we were still sinners. The Holy Spirit patiently waits to guide, lead, direct and us. He never gives in to the human level desires to abandon us, and only focus on those that consistently truly and earnestly seek God. We would all like to count ourselves in that later group (those that earnestly seek God), but if we are honest with ourselves we have all spent more time in the previous area (lost or backsliding) then we ever have in the later (earnestly seeking and living for God), so no matter our current state we must thank God for His True Love Waiting on us.
The slogan / tag line True Love Waits does not just apply to the relationship between Christ and ourselves, it also applies to the relationship that we should have between ourselves and our families, friends, and if we are married our spouses. True Love, which we are suppose to have for those that we love, is exhibited not just in our actions, but also in our acts of patience and kindness. Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, etc. (Look at 1 Corinthians 13 for a complete description of Love). True Love Waits is a good summary of the way we are to display our love for those around us.
We should wait patiently and calmly for our loved ones, sometimes that even means getting involved in helping them reach their goals via our work and actions. Our lives are suppose to be poured out into those that we love and meet, but sometimes we have to wait to pour ourselves into those around us. Many times, this waiting patiently can drain us more then almost anything else we do, yet we are called to do it and continue to wait patiently for all those that we are called to serve.
Patience is the key to true love waiting. Even when we may have the “right” to move on, or act out, we are called to patiently love and serve those that are around us. That is a difficult, if not impossible, task in a average week, to carry that over a lifetime is a call that is completely impossible. That is why we must constantly look to God for examples of to live and serve, and why we must seek the Holy Spirit for what our current actions should be.
Our unloving nature is often shown the ones that are closest to us. Since they are always around, and we assume they always will be - sometimes incorrectly, we begin to be less patient and less loving to them. In our mind we say that we truly love them, but our actions says that they are less worthy of true love then the strangers and casual acquaintances that we treat with love and kindness. How sad it is to be more patient with a stranger, a co-worker, or a friend that has moved away then we are with our parents, our friends, our children, our spouses, and our closest friends.
The ones that we love most are many times the ones that we are the least patient and least loving with. That is a terrible example and witness to both them and the world. Our actions tell the world that the closer someone is to you, the worse you have the right to treat them. The more devoted someone is to you, the more you can take advantage of them. Are these the lessons that you really want to teach to children, lost people, and all that are watching your example?
God is always loving and kind to us, not because He has to, but because He loves us and wants to be. He shows this to us by patiently waiting for us, and always completely restoring us when we return to Him. His way is one of patience, love, freedom and kindness, not short tempered, anger, control, and lack of respect. We are usually unloving and unkind to those closest to us be because they are always around. We mistake their physical closeness for emotional dependency. We assume they will continue to be there in the future because they have been around in the past. We take advantage of their familiarity and even our bonds with them. We assume that they will overlook our actions and know our minds. That is a terrible witness, a terrible example, and is a terrible example of “True Love Waits”
In addition to our close relations, we must also be patient with acquaintances that only call when they want things, friends that do not call back, family members that act contrary to what we want, bosses and co-workers that always seem to be doing the exact thing that offends us most, or the things that take the most advantage. The life of a Christian is not easy, but it is rewarding. Christ never promised us a easy life here, just a great eternity, and as we are patient with others we must remember that. True Love does wait, and it knows that the reward for it’s waiting is not today, the reward may not even be tomorrow, but the real reward is in the future, and that is worth waiting for when God is involved. By patiently loving those around us today we are building a better future for ourselves and them as well by building a stronger bond of love and interdependency.
This is the same lesson that Christ applies to us daily in our walk. We may fail Him today and even tomorrow, but in the future we will be better then we are today, and we will have a better relationship with Him due to His patience. The reward for His patience is that we will be better equipped to accomplish His will and way. Understand that when it comes to Christ patience we get all the benefit. We are not vital to His success, but we are vital to His glory and His word being spread and He wants us to be involved in that. That takes time, and He is willing to wait until we are ready to accomplish His goals and ways.
If we act in the same way as Christ when it comes to our actions toward others then all involved will benefit and our lives will be a great example to all that we meet. Today begin to truly let the slogan of “True Love Waits” be lived out in your actions and ways to both your close relations and all that you meet in your daily life. This will glorify Christ, benefit all your relationships, and make you a better witness for Christ in the world.
