Imagine you could live 2000 years. Your entire life you were expecting the second coming of Jesus any day and yet it had not happened. Would you be patient or impatient? Would you still believe? Would you be discouraged? We don't talk about the second coming in the way they talk about it in the Bible. To them it was imminent. It would happen in their life time; or so it they thought. But they were thinking of time the way humans think of time. Humans talk about generations, life times, decades, years, hours and seconds. To God time must be something entirely different. God existed before time existed and will exist after time ceases to exist.

So how do we approach the return? Most of us don't carry a "The End Is Near!" sign around. But should we live like it is? We live as if Jesus will return in some distant unknown future. We are neither expecting the second coming or really prepared for it. We live as if tomorrow will be much like today, and next year there will be a spring, summer fall and winter just like this year. We still measure time in seasons, much like the ancient Israelites. But few of us are dependent on the natural seasons. When the rains come it is more a convenience not a necessity. When it snows it is an inconvenience. We bend seasons to our needs. God does not work that way. His seasons do not bend; they come in His time not ours. To God if Jesus came back today that would be but an instant from when Jesus ascended to heaven.

James is trying to get us to understand that no matter when we start to see Christmas decorations in the stores, or hear Christmas music on the radio, Christmas will come when God wants it to come. The original Christmas happened when God wanted it. It was the right time. No matter how full our calendars are we cannot hurry God up or slow God down. God will do what God wants to do when He wants to do it. Christmas is coming; be patient. Be the example James says we should be. Jesus will come. Maybe tomorrow or maybe 2000 years from now.