[Note: This post was to have been published on December 21, 2011 but was delayed. Today's post (12/22/73) will be published later today.]
Recently, after a carryout dinner of sweet and sour chicken, I cracked open my fortune cookie to read the following message: “It is now, and in this world, that we must live.” At the time it struck me that this was somewhat more sophisticated than the average “cookie wisdom.” I set it aside to reflect on it later thinking it might become a sermon illustration, but then this morning, in the reading from Titus, I recognized a similar phrase. “For the grace of God has appeared,” we read, “bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11-13).
On the one hand we as disciples of Jesus Christ have set our hope on the coming reign of God and on the life eternal made evident by the resurrection. In that respect we do not live for today, but for the time that is to come which means that my fortune cookie was incorrect. On the other hand we have also been challenged by Christ to live each day according to God's will, in a manner that is “self-controlled, upright, and godly…” or as Paul would say, so as not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewal of our minds in order to do God’s will (Romans 12:2).
So yes, we have a role to play in this world, in the here and now which makes the fortune cookie right after all. But our ultimate goal lies in the future and what we do today must be done with the future in mind.
Prayer: Lord, God, bless our efforts to live as your people, both in the world and for the world, but with your coming reign in sight. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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