now, but not yet

I had a friend say the other week that “it is hard to live life in the present when you are thinking about the future.” As a population in general we seem to have a hard time with this. When we have a vacation coming up all we can think about is the vacation in two months. When someone is graduating soon all they think about is the day they graduate and not about the exam the next day. When a transition is happening good or bad it is hard to keep track of the here and now.

Living in the Kingdom of God is much the same idea. In Christianity this can be seen just about everywhere in every situation. “Who cares about the stewardship of the earth when someday I will be in heaven?” There is so much thought about the future that the present is forgotten about. And as N.T. Wright points out to us, as Christians we plain and simply don’t live out the theology of heaven and resurrection correctly.

But when graduation, a new job, or a new baby is coming how do we live in the now and not the future? The answer doesn’t seem to be black and white. It is as grey as living in the Kingdom of God - now, but not yet. It is much more than just heaven or just earth. Life is much more than perusing a new job and mucking the present. Life is more. Life is living out the kingdom of God now, but not yet.