SHELBY TOWNSHIP – Growing up I always knew I wanted to become a teacher. Some of my earliest memories are playing school or even assisting the teacher in the classroom, and eventually I went to college for a degree in Elementary Education. Before I ever graduated college, I was offered a position at the school where I was completing my student teaching.
What a blessing to know I would have a teaching position at the same school I had come to love and build so many connections. However, I still had to finish out my student teaching. I had to remain in the “now” while I awaited what was yet to come.
As followers of Christ, we live in this same tension. When we accept Jesus into our lives, we know we are promised eternity in heaven with Him!
In 1 Corinthians 15:55- 57 (NIV) Paul writes,
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jesus defeated death so that we can live with Him one day.
The Bible says in Romans 8:37 (NIV),
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word conqueror as “one who conquers, one who wins a country in war, subdues or subjugates a people, or overcomes an adversary.”
According to Romans 8:37 the Bible tells us that we are “more than conquerors” which means the battle has already been won for us! We can live in the promised victory that Jesus gave us when he died on the cross and defeated death!
As amazing and life changing as that promise is, we must learn to live in the tension of the “now and not yet” just as I had to finish my student teaching position before I was able to step into a full-time teaching role and all the benefits that would come along with that. What happens when we know we have the future victory that awaits us, but we struggle to experience victories in our everyday lives?
It is vital to remember that we aren’t fighting for victory but that we are fighting from victory. We can know God’s Word and preach it to ourselves when the things around us aren’t working out in the way in which we hoped they would. We can’t allow the temporary things we face to distract us from our eternal victory in Christ!
In Romans 8:28 (NIV), we read,
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
God is working all things together. God is God, and we are not. He knows what lies ahead for us and He knows what is best. We have such a limited understanding, and often we will create the plan in our minds of what we think is best in a situation and what the outcomes should be instead of truly trusting and relying on God.
When we find ourselves struggling in the “now and not yet,” we should search our hearts and ask God the following questions:
Where do I not trust you in this situation?
Where am I struggling to believe your Word to be true?
What is the truth found in your Word to help me in this situation?
As we begin to allow God into our fears, doubts, and unbelief… He meets us there. The Holy Spirit wants to show us how we can trust God even when things around us aren’t the way we hoped they would be. By inviting God into our struggles and seeking Him for the outcomes, we will come to know him better. As we begin to grow in our understanding of God’s character, we will believe what His Word says, and we will truly trust He is working all things together.
While we await our eternal victory, we can have peace in what we are facing now because we know God is in control.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen is married to Scott Blanchard, pastor of Lakepointe Church, and moved from Florida to Michigan in the summer of 2009 to plant Lakepointe Church in Shelby Township. She enjoys mentoring and discipling women and also leads women’s life groups through her church. She is passionate about helping women find their purpose in who God created them to be. She is on staff at Lakepointe Church and loves being part of what God is doing in the Metro Detroit area!