In 149 days, I’m getting married & moving into Matt's house. We’ve been rearranging things, putting together a registry. I’ve been dreaming about decorating & where all of my stuff will go. It’s quite exciting. While I dream about my future home, I also have my current home that is filled with people that I love. In 149 days, I won’t live with them anymore…and that will be weird. I’m caught between two homes. Do you ever feel caught in tension?
Paul talks about this tension of being caught between homes quite a bit. He deeply desires to be at home with the Lord & live in a heavenly dwelling. But he also says that it's more necessary for him to remain in the body for the sake of the people God’s placed him with. Paul’s living in the tension between eager expectation of what’s to come & faithfully tending to the people & work that Jesus has currently given him.
If Paul only focused on current circumstances, it would have been hard to see past imprisonment, hardships & the struggles of loved ones. Paul needed hope of one day being at home with the Lord-that one day God would bring total restoration. On the other hand, if he only ever focused on being at home with the Lord, he would miss everything that God is doing around him & desires to do through him in the meantime.
The best place to be is in the tension between hoping for what's to come & being present in this season.
Maybe you feel really bogged down by current circumstances. Ask Jesus to give you some heavenly perspective & remind you of the hope that’s to come. The things to come matter, because Jesus is God over the future.
Maybe you’re eagerly waiting for something- maybe to be at home with the Lord, or even something smaller - graduation, retirement, the end of your quarantine, the end of covid, summer vacation…Ask Jesus to show you what he has for you in the meantime, to help you be present in this season trusting that he absolutely can do good things with this time. This moment matters because Jesus is God over this moment & this season
Whatever camp you fall in, I pray that you would let Jesus-the one who was, who is, and who is to come- reset your perspective & renew your peace & purpose today.
Comments