Can’t Hardly Wait: What makes you eager?

In the realm of sports the word “fan” is short for “fanatic.” While some fans may be casual, others fit the term rather well. Their wardrobe is full of clothing to support their beloved team. Their hard-earned money is spent on tickets, trinkets, and even road trips. Their conversations with friends revolve around team strategy and there seems to be no offseason for such things.
One thing most every sports fan can relate to is eagerness. During the World Cup this summer, I was so eager for the next game to be played by our national team that the gaps between games, which were only a few days, felt like weeks. During March Madness, I am always eager for the brackets to come out. I sometimes fantasize that my team will go deep into the tournament, tracking every game in the entire tournament until my team loses, then I often lack interest in what happens after that. If I have a special trip planned, I get so eager to go that it is difficult to sleep the night before or focus on tasks on the days leading up to it.
Maybe sporting events never get you eager, but surely there is something that does, and when it does you get hooked, right? In our region the opening weekend for pheasant season and deer season draws much eagerness leading up to it. The annual grand march before prom seems to be a highlight of the year for many people. In your area I would imagine there are similar times that call for eagerness in addition to the ones we share as a nation or as a faith, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.
Eagerness for exciting and fun things is not bad, but few Christians seem eager for worship, discipleship, and mission: the very bedrocks of church life together. Messages about salvation, songs about forgiveness, prayers that ascend beyond our rooftops into heaven appear old hat and mundane every Sunday. Finding eagerness for people to reach out to their fellow members and to the community at large by doing good works can also be difficult. Amid such passiveness we must be reminded to be eager for our faith, which is nothing new. Paul focuses on eagerness in the book of Titus.
The Book of Titus is a short letter from Paul that encourages his child in the faith, Titus, to lead God’s church in Crete well, including all its groups from the old to the young. Paul tells Titus to be firm in his rebuke of people who are rebellious and divisive among the church, but even more firmly committed to raising up and teaching people who will be eager to do what is good. The heart of the letter reminds Titus of God’s role in such a big task:
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” – Titus 2:11-14.
Being eager to do good, at least the way Paul describes it in his letter to Titus, includes living in submission to Christ by focusing on holiness, gentleness, and self-control. Such behavior is an example to believers and unbelievers alike.
After stressing the importance of doing good twice already, Paul concludes his letter with this thought: “Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives” (Titus 3:14). Where there is an eagerness to do good among God’s people they meet urgent needs in their community and their lives bear visible fruit. Paul’s same words imply that whenever churches and individual Christians lack an eagerness to do good, urgent needs in their communities will go unmet and the lives of individual Christians will be as dry and barren as a forest in the dead of winter.
God’s grace is more than sufficient for us to be eager to do good in his name, so let us put aside the sin that holds us down and get to it. According to Paul, being eager to do good is one of the best ways to wait for Christ’s return.