I’ll be frank and honest.
I’m used to being in slightly awkward situations.
Being a naturally quiet and reserved person, I’ve had my fair share of uncomfortable silences, wallflower moments, and awkward conversations.
Often we feel awkward when caught between two extremes and we’re unsure of where we should stand. Striking a balance can be very awkward.
There are a lot of balances we need to manage in our lives. We work hard trying to balance work and rest; grace and firmness; frugality and indulgence. We hear that everything should be used in moderation, including moderation. It’s hard though. The truth is: striking balance is hard and awkward.
As Christmas approaches, I’m reminded of a special, “awkward” balance we as Christians live in: something called the “already-but-not-yet”. It’s the state of living after the first coming of Christ but before his second coming.
You see, prior to Christ’s first coming, the people of God were characterized by hope. Everything was expectation. Everything was looking ahead with longing towards the coming of the Messiah. Hope was the driving value of God’s people in the days before Christ’s first coming.
After Christ comes again there will be a transition away from hope and faith. 1 Corinthians 13 refers to this when Paul writes:
“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away…For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Hope and faith will begin to exhaust their purpose when the New Heavens and New Earth are established. Hope and faith are the certainty of things not seen. When these things are seen, these virtues are rendered expired. Only love will serve its original purpose.
In that day, the people of God will be characterized by love; enamored with Christ.
And this brings us to the paradox that we live in as twenty-first century Christians. We have already experienced the revelation of the love of Christ on Calvary. We have everything we need in Christ. We are completely satisfied in Christ. We find all joy in Christ. We need nothing else beyond what we have now.
However, we retain hope and faith that there is something more in sight down the path of time. There is a second coming. There is more that we have not yet experienced. There is more. It’s paradoxical because we know that we are complete in Christ now but there is also more that we do not have now that we look forward to with anticipation.
It’s mind-blowing and beautiful to know that all that we experience now in our relationship with Christ is just the beginning. There is more beyond the frontiers of hope and faith.