Friday, July 19, 2013

I Want It Now


The Church of Jesus Christ is the eschatological people of God. What is that word? Eschatological? It is not simple, but it is important. It means that the people of God belongs to the age-to-come, but that His people already exist, though not in final form, in the present age. We are a people who have been already brought into being, but who are not yet complete.

This truth implies that our current existence is meaningless apart from our future enjoyments. Don’t be mis-led. I did not say that our current existence is unimportant. Quite the contrary. It is highly important, so much so that our choices and behaviors now will have an effect on our enjoyments forever. But our life in the present age can never be isolated from the future reality when we will live in the presence of Jesus and the unhindered expression of the glory of God forever.

I find that a key application of this truth is very convicting. We cannot just live in and for the “now”. But we are trained by our culture to want “it” (and by “it,” I mean just about everything) now.

I want good service in any establishment to be prompt. I want it now. I want your attention when I want it - in that “now” moment when I want it. I want to get where I am going without delay. I hate delays. It messes up my “now.” 

I want to compensated and comfortable in short order. 
I want to experience fullness and satisfaction now. 
I want to be happy now. 
I want to be popular now. 

These last four statements were taken from Scripture (Luke 4:24-25) except for the one word that Jesus clearly and repeatedly pronounces over them and their attitudes. That word is “woe.”

When you and I live merely in and for the “now,” we deny the reality and distinctiveness of what it means to be God’s people. We have taken up living like those who “have no hope and are without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).