The Now and the Not Yet

A prevalent theme throughout the Gospels, and through the Christian life, is the concept of the Now and the Not Yet.  Basically, it's a nifty phrase to summarize the spiritual mystery of being completely fulfilled by God and yet still living in a fallen world - and being creatures who fail to live up to our true potential, who will always fall short of the mark.  Or miss it entirely.

As Christians, we've been covered with Christ and have been made pure, righteous and holy in God's sight.  We have been redeemed (through Christ) yet are still being redeemed (in the present life) and will one day be perfectly redeemed (new heavens and new earth).  We have been sanctified, yet through our trials and through living out God's will we are presently being sanctified, and one day at the completion of it all, we will finally be sanctified.

The same goes for God's power in our lives.  Our true power lies in God alone and won't be fully realized until our time has come - really, until our time is up.  Yet, we've actually been given (through re-birth) much, much more power than we ever tap into.  I think we - or I - come closest to realizing this in my darkest hours.  Over the past few months, I've had no choice but to deal with some things that need to be dealt with.  I did not ask for them and I don't want them.  It's through this painful process that I see God's power at work in my life, and that I can sort of, kind of, almost understand the Now and the Not Yet.

Concerning these issues that must be dealt with:  Things have not been OK; things are currently not OK and honestly, I don't know what the future holds.  But yet I do.  They are being made new - and maybe they have to die and be resurrected - but one of these days they will be sanctified.  C.S. Lewis said (somewhere - sorry I'll fall short in this reference) that Christians ask God to patch our cottage roofs when what He's really doing is turning us into castles.

So maybe this is what I look like in the spiritual realm...it sure beats the ghetto fabulous shack that I feel like most of the time!