A Caught-In-Between Day

Do you ever feel like you’re caught between what you want to do and what you have to do instead? Do you ever struggle between some kinds of business principles and those of the Kingdom? And does it ever get so frustrating that you have a blow up or a break down? You know—really lose it? I don’t mean the kind that requires hospitalization. Or maybe I do.

I simply felt from the Lord that He knows we’re prone to frustration and anxiety and even outbursts of temper. And He has not one iota of condemnation for us—not one. I think He wants us to know that.

You and I are living life caught between two worlds—the temporal and the eternal. The one we can see, and the one we can’t. The one that passes away, and the one that lasts. Just as one of those worlds seems to get into focus, the other comes barging in. I can be enjoying the day, knowing the Lord and trusting in Him, when suddenly something worldly knocks me senseless. I remember a bill I forgot to pay (like the tow truck driver), I forget to pick up my daughter(!), I discover that I didn’t record the USC game properly (heavens!), and I told someone I would call her back but forgot. (Sorry, Pam!)

It’s like I’m happily flirting with spiritual maturity, and then it rudely breaks up with me. I don’t like it at all.

Sometimes, however, I get into the rut of not living by the Spirit, and of not truly enjoying Him in any way. In fact, being a Christian momentarily seems a bother, a hindrance to the life I could have. Have you ever felt like that? I can have times when my thoughts go something like, "Ah, just think of all things I could do and have if it weren’t for the fact that I’m a believer." Fortunately, it's not long before I have one of those BAM! moments, when somehow the Holy Spirit knocks me back into my senses. "Oh, yeah. I love being a Christian—wouldn’t trade it for anything."

I like that.

So, if you’re feeling stressed, bent out of shape, pushed or hurried, and are having one of those sloppy, caught-in-between days, take a moment to breathe. There is such purpose to this life, and through it all, God holds us in Christ, holy and righteous. Don’t worry about that. While this life is a mess, in the next one there won’t be any chance to live by faith in heaven, no opportunity to grow and succeed in the battle against temptation, no one to lead to Jesus, no friend to pray for, no groceries to buy for a down-and-outer. Nothing will be in-between anymore.

That will be such a good day! But not today.