advent

I know, it has been almost a year since I blogged. I'm sure I could think up some creative excuses but I'll spare you. I decided today that I miss it, and I should just slip a post up. In addition, I decided to change the name of my blog and change the picture, etc. But, back to the name: "living in the now but not yet." This is a concept I've thought a tremendous amount about over the last three years or so, I think I've felt the weight of it for much longer. We talked at great lengths in my Theology of Suffering study at Moody about living in the tension of being a believer and living in this period where the kingdom of God has come but is still yet to come. At the time, I wanted so badly to understand that tension because I felt it so deeply but it seemed like the more I longed to understand the further from understanding it I became. It was incredibly frustrating and I chalked it up to one of those things that I just wouldn't understand this side of glory.

However, today we entered the Advent season and my church takes this period to slow down a little bit and tap into some great liturgy focusing on the expectancy of Christ's coming. My pastor went through the book of Matthew and explained this tension of the now but not yet in a way that helped me understand it in a deeper way than before. He talked about the coming of Christ and the ushering in of His kingdom in 3 lights: His first coming (His birth, becoming man followed by His eartly ministry, death and resurrection) His current reign in the hearts of believers, His presence and kingdom lived out through us on the earth (this is the tension, the
"now") and His future second coming when His perfect kingdom will be ushered in fully completely to stay forever on earth (the "not yet"). The constant thing I struggle with is how do I live in this "now" knowing that it is all building up to the "not yet" to come?

My conclusion: to actively wait, anticipate and long for that second coming, singing COME JESUS COME and pursuing His kingdom while I am blessed to experience life on this earth, as imperfect as it may be. What is the "active" part of "actively waiting....?" It is this: Matthew 25:35-40, "'For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'" Living in the now but not yet is living with the attitude, the overflow, the mission that Christ describes in these verses. In Matthew 5 He calls these the "poor in spirit." That is how I want to spend my time here on earth while I await the advent of Christ and the ushering in of His kingdom accompanied by shalom. But oh how often I forget and lose focus.

For more thoughts, prayers, and liturgy about Advent, visit this website my church is walking through: http://beautifuladvent.com/.