The Stretch: The Now and The Not Yet

We live in an uncertain world, and we instinctively turn to comfort in times of uncertainty - comforting patterns, comforting promises. Sometimes, our anxiety is actually a form of comfort. It makes us feel powerless, which keeps us from having to do anything.
All of the best things in our lives involve a stretch, and all of the best things in our faith involve a stretch, too. It takes us to where we are to somewhere better. This is a principle of life.
Pastor Michael Hoddy shares that stretching is when we trade comfort for uncertainty or discomfort. As people of God, we actually have a stretch between the now and the not yet. That’s what hope is. The grave doesn’t get the final say. But here’s where we run into trouble: This great hope at the end of our lives here on earth doesn’t give us many handholds for the life we live here in the meantime.
This video explains that we can profoundly shape followers of Jesus in some unhelpful ways. We have this understanding of salvation in Jesus that focuses primarily on after we die, not on how we live now. As a result, we don’t know what to do in the meantime. This shouldn’t make us anxious because we are followers of Jesus. Paul contrasts those who live in the light and those who live in the dark. In a sense, he scolds the Christians for being like the people who live in the dark.
We have one foot planted firmly in the now, and another planted firmly in the not yet because Jesus gets the last word.
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About Us:
Long Hill Chapel is part of The Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA), also called The Alliance. LHC has a significant history from its founding by a group of like-minded families in 1946. Since then, pastors, business leaders, community builders, and families have been raised up by LHC. Missionaries from Long Hill Chapel have been sent and supported to the far corners of the earth, churches planted, and resources provided to the local, regional, and global impact for Jesus.