Living in the tension

Our faith assures us of many things. Many of them are magnificent. A number of them are harder to swallow. Peter said we would suffer much. John said the tribulation is ours in Jesus (along with the Kingdom and much endurance). Mary was told that a sword would pierce her heart. In the week after the death of Duncan Forsyth (and many thousands of other good people across the world), those of us who have worked hard to swallow the assurances of our suffering will still be sad, but we will not mourn like those who have no hope. It has ever been thus. Our world is not what God made it to be and it is not what He will remake it to be. Right now it is what it is. Good people die young, awful people live long and prosper, some prayers seem powerful and effective and other prayers seem to fall on deaf ears. This is the grubby orange of the Now and Not Yet of the Kingdom.

Our calling is to live in this eschatological tension. To mourn, to weep, to repent, to be confused AND at the same time to rejoice, to worship, to witness and to speak hope. The Kingdom of God is not yet everything, everywhere but it is at hand. Will we grasp it? Will we do the things Jesus has asked us to do and empowered us to do even while He doesn't seem to be doing everything we want Him to do? If we will then the Glorious Gold of the Coming Kingdom will not be far from us. If we will then the warming fire of the gospel will be lighting up dark hearts. If we will then a thousand Spiritual Awakenings are sure to be taking place. Because the assurances of God's Kingdom breaking into this Age are as reliable as his assurances about our troubles. Jesus died. Jesus rose. Jesus is ascended to the highest position of authority forever and ever. Let's choose to live a cross-shaped life, knowing that we will indeed be raised with Him and will co-rule his glorious kingdom of justice and peace for ever and ever.

Discovering what that looks like is part of the adventure of this life. Parts of it will be the same for all of us, parts of it will be utterly unique to each of us. We would love to walk with you on this road of discovery and sacrifice, of joy and mourning, of failure and faith. We always love to hear from you.

We love you and are praying for you,
much affection
Tom and Lesley

excerpted from our CV Digest email to the church, which you can read in full here - https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?u=dbe6d8cbe24616d7aac6c794a&id=e5c2f1313d