Conversion to Christ is a waiting game. Paul the Apostle described the experience of the Thessalonian Christians. He told them that they turned to God from the idolatry of the past. They had undergone a profound repentance. From a culture, a family life, and a personal life that was built around idols, they turned in trust and service to the living God. But they also did another very important thing.
For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10).
They waited. Strikingly, he connected their present to the future. They were to eagerly await Jesus Christ. That expectation was built around Christ who will come to deliver them from the wrath to come. Paul the Apostle took for granted a future wrath will come upon the earth and part of salvation was deliverance from that wrath. Also, our Christian service is to be effective waiters. We are effective waiters when we wait for Jesus Christ with excitement and fill our wait with service.
