In Christian theology a common phrase depicting the present time is “already- not yet”:

We are redeemed but we still await the fullness of our redemption:  “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”

We having been given everything we need pertaining to godliness yet we echo Paul’s words, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”

We have the spirit within us but we struggle with the deeds of the flesh.

We have the mind of Christ but we are called to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Sin has been conquered but we have an advocate for when we sin.  And we will sin.

We are caught between something that is as good as done because Christ said, “It is finished” and that same thing at the same time not yet fulfilled. 

This is what happens when you try to understand eternity in the context of time and time in the context of eternity.  They are two related, yet distinct dimensions that influence each other, and I suspect even overlap each other at times. 

In short, deep is the mystery concerning the things of God in which things from His perspective are done, but from ours are still being worked out.  Yet there is enough clear to inspire us to keep moving toward the mystery and the ideals enveloped in it.  And clear is the call to a certain way of being though the effort to be that way seems to be rather unsustainable, and at times even unattainable in this “already-not yet” time.

The reality of this is acutely pressed into us when we consider relationships.  We are called to love one another but how easy it is to draw people into our lives like items off the shelf at the store, caught by something we initially found attractive and useful to us, only to dump them when we grow weary of them or discover they don’t work quite the way we thought they would…or should.

We are called to love one another as the only sustainable, credible witness that Christ indeed has come, yet we tear down and reject brothers and sisters in the faith while washing the feet of strangers thinking we have ministry figured out and they don’t.  And we justify it in all kinds of ways…there are whole books written by esteemed Christian leaders talking about the need to purge and prune our lives of people, “family members” who “aren’t good for us.”

That is the trap of “already-not yet”.  We find in it a loop-hole that we think frees us from the call to love.  The problem is, if we choose that loop-hole, it only reveals our contempt for the call.  We are called to love but in our inability to do so, we justify our walking away because we are, after all, not yet fully redeemed.  We can’t possibly expect, this side of eternity, to get along with everyone; it just doesn’t work that way in this “already-not yet” period.

Rubbish. 

I like what Bonhoeffer wrote:  “There is no dislike, no personal tension, no disunity or strife that cannot be overcome by intercessory prayer.”

And I like what G.K. Chesterton wrote:  “The Christian ideal as not been tried and found wanting.  It has been found difficult and left untried.”

Finally, I like what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews wrote:  “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We like to quote Paul’s words to the Philippians:  “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death”.  But God forbid that He should ever actually ask us to live it – especially with that person.

We are thrilled to be reconciled to God, especially not having to pay the price to make it happen, but we are not so thrilled when He asks us to now do the same with another, perhaps at significant, maybe even the same, cost.  Consider John’s words,”This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

 That’s great when it’s convenient and fits our schedule and our friendship (spouse, co-worker, neighbour) profile.  Otherwise, no way! It can’t mean losing my life for that person.  We misuse the phrase, “I died to self and myself almost died” to explain away all kinds of rejecting acts on our part,  and all kinds of border building and boundary protecting that we never designed to make it easier for us to offer ourselves; we designed them only to explain withdrawing ourselves.

How do we reconcile this with God’s work and subsequent call, not to be fulfilled in eternity but now, in this “already-not yet” time?

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Some would say all we have to do is proclaim the message of reconciliation, and that being only between God and people.  But words without deeds are empty.  How can we proclaim a message we won’t live?  How can we claim to know reconciliation when we continually count people’s sins against them, stacking them up as our justification for walking away.  Jesus spoke to this when he pictured a man who had been fully reconciled who then turned around and condemned another man.  It did not finish well for that first man.

I’m not saying it’s easy.  I am certainly not saying I have this figured out and I’m living it well.  God knows the daily struggle that goes on in my own heart and how many times I have wanted to walk away.  But I can’t. 

I can’t without also denying what I have been given. 

I can’t without rejecting the call. 

I can’t, because I know how much it hurts to be walked away from, and I just can’t do that to someone. 

I can’t, because the core truth of the gospel is love having gone the distance. 

I can’t, because I know the pain I experience in my relationships includes my own heart being revealed in all of its hardness, defensiveness, self-protection and…need to understand more deeply God’s way of doing things, through those very relationships.  It is nothing less than a sign his love is getting a hold of me and teaching me how to share in His love for others, partly because love is who He is, and partly because the love I learn to live in is the only credible witness that Christ has indeed come.

No, it doesn’t work like this in this world, but it does work like this in the “already-not yet” kingdom of God in our midst.