Life in Between
Avoiding common pitfalls within our unavoidable trials
I usually advise young Christian couples against long engagements. An engaged couple has already concluded that they plan to spend the rest of their lives together by entering the covenant of marriage. However, until they consummate their commitment in the sight of God, they are not yet married and cannot yet righteously enjoy the privileges of the gift of marriage. “In between” seasons bring unique temptations and pitfalls, and I don’t advocate inviting trials unnecessarily.
With that said, some “in between” times are unavoidable. Israel wondered in the wilderness for forty years waiting to enter the Promised Land. Of course, they would have entered much sooner had they trusted the voice of God. Between the Exodus redemption and the fulfillment of Promised Land entry, those forty “in between” years proved to be a season of great testing for God’s people. David endured a similar trial as he hid in the wilderness from Saul, awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise to make him king.
The Christian life is another unavoidable “in between” time. Christians can legitimately speak of salvation in the past tense—“by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:5)—but we are also awaiting salvation—“much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Rom 5:9). Much like Israel and David, we live in the “in between.” We are saved now by faith in Christ and have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. But the Spirit indwells us as a guarantee (Eph 1:14) of the fulfillment of all God’s promises in the future. We live between the “already” and the “not yet.”
When we forget that we live “in between,” we can easily make one of two mistakes. First, we can forget the “already,” causing us to give up on this world and passively wait for the glorious day when I’ll fly away. Some Christians conclude that there’s nothing for us here and now. They choose to bide their years in the piety of exclusion, cloistered away from the concerns of this fallen world. They forget that the Spirit they possess equips them for bold witness.
However, there’s a second mistake, perhaps more common. It’s tempting to forget the “not yet.” These Christians, discipled by the pristine scenes of Christian Instagram influencers, expect a smooth road. They want their house clean, their kids behaved, and their church providing all the experiences and services without the sin and mess. When life gets messy, they struggle. They forget that the Spirit is given to them to help them survive life “in between.”
Interestingly, this second mistake represents the one Jesus’s followers were most prone to make. As Jesus proclaimed the presence of the kingdom of God, they expected their mess to get cleaned up, personally and politically. God’s kingdom could only mean two things—immediate judgment of their enemies and immediate salvation for their friends and family. They had no expectation of a life “in between.” Obviously, they were confused. The Pharisees even asked him when it would come, prompting him to respond that the kingdom of God was already present “in the midst of you” (Luke 17:20-21). They couldn’t see that the kingdom was staring them right in the face.
How do we survive life “in between”? Most obviously, it requires faith. Faith grants us the eyes to see Jesus amid the mess. Faith reaches out to grasp ahold of the King and his promises when the storm rages. It enables us to interpret the “seen” according to the “unseen” instead of the other way around. Faith drives us to the church each Lord’s Day to worship through word and sacrament with the people of God even as the nations rage outside the door. By faith, we celebrate the triumph of the gospel and the unshakable promises of God despite the headlines.
Faith drives us to seek shelter with God’s people. But when we get there, we better come with “not yet” expectations. In Luke 17:1-4, Jesus teaches his disciples to expect sin, warns against being the agent of temptation to sin, and requires that we rebuke and forgive sinners. In other words, church life in the “not yet” must reckon with the fact that Spirit-filled people are going to disappoint and even infuriate us. However, the love and forgiveness we’ve received from Christ demands that we love and forgive one another. Without that expectation, you won’t survive life “in between.”