I’ve been thinking about how practical the Bible is. Consider the distinction between “now” and “not yet.” In our ASAP culture we want everything now, and find ourselves frustrated and ready to walk away whenever it, whatever it is, doesn’t happen. “Have patience” doesn’t work with someone living in the now, but accept the fact of not yet and you keep your inner peace.
Some Bible “now/not yets” that help us understand life: Now we have times of fear and anxiety; not yet are we totally confident in our Lord’s care for us (Mark 6:50). Now we have times when we feel life has no purpose; not yet do we see that our “labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Now we believe Christ died for our sins; not yet are our guilty feelings gone. Now we have grief over the death of dear ones; not yet has every tear been wiped from our eyes (Isaiah 25:8). Now we see death coming to us; not yet have we gone through the valley of the shadow to the joys of heaven (Revelation 7:14-17).
How to lift our spirits beyond the “now” to the “not yet?” Grab onto the promises of God. God has “given us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). “And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts” (Romans 5:5). Hope does not disappoint you now.
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