1
Remind me, Lord, today of Your return;
While here on earth I pray: May my heart for You yearn.
From heav’n You’ll soon appear, Your face we’ll see;
Awaiting You so dear we must always be.
Yet how oft, forgetting Your promise true,
I have lived my days far from You.
May all my days ahead be fixed on Thee—
Oh, I’m here, Lord, awaiting Thee!
While here on earth I pray: May my heart for You yearn.
From heav’n You’ll soon appear, Your face we’ll see;
Awaiting You so dear we must always be.
Yet how oft, forgetting Your promise true,
I have lived my days far from You.
May all my days ahead be fixed on Thee—
Oh, I’m here, Lord, awaiting Thee!
2
While here below I stay, indeed I know—
You will return one day; I must all things forgo.
I set my all on You—You who are true;
My life is set towards You, e’en the things I’ll do.
I just see no hope on this dull, dark earth;
No bright lot in false, fading mirth!
My hope’s my coming Lord, our destiny—
Oh, I’m here, Lord, awaiting Thee!
You will return one day; I must all things forgo.
I set my all on You—You who are true;
My life is set towards You, e’en the things I’ll do.
I just see no hope on this dull, dark earth;
No bright lot in false, fading mirth!
My hope’s my coming Lord, our destiny—
Oh, I’m here, Lord, awaiting Thee!
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Toronto, Ontario, Canada
What a wonderful testimony of A. B. L.!
Our hope is not on this earth nor in this age. Our hope is in the coming Lord. We do not have any future on this earth. Our future is in Him and our destiny is to meet Him.
“Oh, I’m here, Lord, awaiting Thee! ” May we live a life that testifies that our God is true and living, and live a life waiting for the Lord’s coming back.
Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
What a sweet testimony A. B. L. The Lord is the only One of worth. My life is set towards You, e’en the things I’ll do.
Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines
1 Thessalonians 1:10
And await His Son from the heavens, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath which is coming
Because we are awaiting the Son of God from the heavens, our future is focused on Him. Our life declares that we have no hope on this earth and no positive destiny in this age, and that our hope is the coming Lord, who is our destiny forever. This governs, holds, and keeps our Christian life for the church life. (RcV footnote)
The matter concerning His return has touched me since I was in fifth or sixth grade, when I was around ten or eleven. I cannot forget that moment when I was seated on the rocking chair at home, singing "Lord, how long, dear Bridegroom, 'til You come, Lord, how soon?", uttering "Come, Lord Jesus, please come dear Bridegroom..." That was perhaps the first time I touched my Lord. Although my understanding of His return was really not much at that time, I really wanted Him to come back already. I thought that when our Lord comes back, everything would be fine, that the world would just get worse and worse until He comes back. It was shallow, but true. I've heard stories about His coming back since I was young and I was frightened by those; however, at that time, my sentiment was a little bit more of hope already than mere fear. Eventually, I realized that aside from hope, we want Him to come back because we love Him. It was because of Sister M. E. Barber's testimony that I was further encouraged to wait on our Beloved's return.
Time passed, eventually I was working. At that time, I knew that the years I've set for working before entering the Training was about to end; however, I started to think that perhaps that's not what the Lord wants, that perhaps He has "better” plans for me in relation to my work. I was in my car, and I have just dropped off two of our company's regional directors when the Lord spoke to me in a very particular way. The directors and I had a conversation that night and right before parting ways, the talk ended with them saying that, for whatever position I want, I could just tell it to my immediate supervisor so that it could be worked on already; so there I was left in my car imagining of what could happen, of how good the postions are, of how good the benefits could be, and of how good life would be for me. While I was there dreaming of wonderful things on my way home, a line of a hymn playing at that time caught my attention. I am fond of memorizing hymns, and this hymn was probably the hymn I've played over and over the most those months; however, it was only at that time that I noticed the lines, "Each time when of heavenly blessings I think, O let my heart long to be raptured to Thee" (Hymn 389). "O let my heart long... oh, long... to be raptured..." After pondering that line, I was then convicted and exposed of how my heart has been - turned away, filled with other things, no longer longing for the rapture, for His return; that I used to simply await Him, His return on a rocking chair, now I forgot everything about His coming back and dream of so many other things. I really repented and consecrated myself to simply await Him anew. It was at that night that I decided to drop all other things and again give myself to join the Training.
During those times, I didn't have the habit of writing down my sentiments yet; so I was not able to capture how I felt. It was only when I was in the Training, when I heard a particular verse and read its footnote, that I was reminded of those moments - on the rocking chair and in the car, and was able to write down how I really felt then. We can't be entangled today. In a sense, there is really no point in "investing” on many things not related to Him now; everything is not that real compared to our Lord, His work, and His return.