Watch, Wait, What's the Difference?

Watch and wait, do you know the difference? The Bible calls for us to do both. We are to wait upon the Lord, but we are to watch for his return.

To wait is to delay with expectation. We pull up to a stop light and we wait for it to change. We have the expectation that it will eventually turn green. When we wait upon the Lord, we have the expectation that he will give us some kind of guidance on how we should proceed. But it also brings us to a halt. We delay our action until we know what the Lord wants us to do.

To watch has the expectation, but not the delay. To watch is to be vigilant. When the light turns green, we watch for the guy who isn’t going to stop for the red light and the pedestrian who is still in the intersection. If they are there, we take a different action than if they aren’t, but watching doesn’t prevent us from taking action. The same is true of watching for the Lord’s return. The Bible tells us that no one but God knows when that will happen, but we are to watch. We look to the sky and listen for the trumpet every day, but at the same time we are making plans for the future. We should be prepared for it to happen today, but our actions should also be such that it would be okay if it doesn’t happen for a long time.

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