Hope Deferred

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

What do you believe about the promises of God? Do you believe some of the promises but have difficulty believing others? Have you been raised believing God's promises are available only in the sweet by and by? Someday, in the future. Maybe, when I get my act together, or possibly only when I go to heaven? If any of those are your mindset, the wisdom of Proverbs 13:12 rings true for you.

God's promises are for our here and now, not some arbitrary future date or time. 2 Corinthians 6:2 (NKJV) 2 For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Now, not in the future. The promises of God are varied and many. What they all have in common is they are past tense.

Act 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me

Rom 4:7 "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.

Rom 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

Rom 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law

Rom 8:24 For in Hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not Hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?

Gal 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;

Eph 2:8 For by Grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 

Do you see it? Maybe you read those scriptures as "have been," but in life practice, you live them as maybe or someday. That effectively weakens you because it causes you to focus on only what you can do and what will be, not what Christ has already done.  

Throughout my years in counseling, I have noticed a theme that threads itself through many of my clients. That theme is "the change I'm looking for doesn't seem to be happening as fast as I want or expect." I understand that feeling. But I believe it's rooted in a false belief. Let me explain. The view, "The change I'm looking for doesn't seem to be happening as fast as I want or expect," forces you back to a false identity. An identity that says, "I am not enough yet." 2 Peter 1:2-4 reveals to us the truth, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 for His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 Through these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world on account of lust.

The work of being enough is complete. The belief that I'm not good enough is a standard set by us or religion. It forces us to work harder to live up to that standard. It's deceptive in that it only produces self-righteousness. The deferred hope that someday I will be good enough, as Proverbs says, makes your heart sick. The word in Hebrew for "sick" means "to be or become weak, feel weak."

Most of us have been trained from an early age to be good. That goodness is achieved by behavior modification. Something that we do. Behavior modification is not the way to salvation or the way after salvation. We have moved from unrighteousness, separated from God in the first Adam, to righteousness, in union with Christ, the last Adam. 1 Co 15:45 So also it is written: "The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING PERSON." The last Adam was a life-giving spirit.

There is no more righteousness to pursue other than that found in Christ. The goal of being righteous enough for God is complete. It's finished. The same goes for our forgiveness. By one sacrifice, our forgiveness has been settled for all time. There is no more forgiveness to seek after. It's not in your future but decided in the past. Hebrews 10:14

We tend only to see our life in Christ from a temporal viewpoint. That is, from our timeline. God is not on a timeline. He is eternal. God is now. He is present. In Exodus 3: 13-14, Moses asked God, "Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God replied, "And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

The Hebrew word for I AM is hāyâ. It means "to exist" or "to be." Do you see the reality of eternity in God's answer to Moses? You might say, I get it, but how does that apply to me in my everyday life?

It applies to us when we move from viewing our life as temporal to viewing our life as eternal. We have moved from the earthly to the eternal in Christ. You have entered into a kingdom with no beginning and no end. Colossians 3:3-4 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

This relocation happened the moment you believed in eternal life, Jesus Christ. 1 John 5: 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

Jesus entered our temporal timeline as man and was slain on the cross. But in God's sense of time, Jesus was slain before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

God never intended for you to live a life heart sickened by always waiting for him to do something. But instead that we would grow to see and live in the truth that in Christ, God has already answered us and fulfilled all of our desires. In Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life, those desires are fulfilled.

Set your mind on what is true. Believe God and receive his promises.