Christians should expect struggles

As we have been studying Paul’s teaching on the second coming of Christ, one thing the helmet of salvation will deliver us from is a wrong fear of Christ’s coming. One of the saddest features of evangelicalism today is that Christians have been made to dread and loathe and fear the coming of Jesus Christ. We have been taught that it is likely to bring us doom—when Paul is saying all along that if you are in Christ through faith and love and the hope of salvation by trusting the promises of God, do not fear the return of Christ. Pray for it. It is our blessed hope. We look with expectation. Now, we are not, as some would have us do, to suspend our lives and fearfully look out the window, lest Jesus should take us unawares. G. K. Beale says that no, the way to be ready for Christ’s return is to live a life of faith in Christ and to trust in his promises. You see, if we trust in the work that Christ has done for our salvation—his death on the cross—if we realize that he is coming back to save us, we will not fear what history has in store. We will look forward to the return of Christ, and that helmet of salvation will enable us to give the witness that our generation desperately needs us to give. Come, Lord Jesus, we say.

Well, Paul in all of these ways makes it very clear that Christians should expect a struggle. We should expect difficulty. The Christian life, as we await our Saviour, requires effort. We are saved by grace alone, and by that same grace, we are empowered to lead a godly life. And I know some may wonder if all the effort, all the trouble of staying awake, keeping sober—you know, not going along with the world—is really worth it. It is not easy. It seems like we are losing out—actually having to go to bed early so we can get up early and read our Bibles and be in church, all of those sorts of things. Is it really going to be worth it in the end? Can we expect to prevail? Well, Jesus answered this way. He said, In this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world (John 16:33).¹

Richard D. Phillips