Already and Not Yet

My youngest daughter is choosing her classes for next year.
It will be her senior year in high school.
She will be taking physics as her science class.
My daughter is very creative.
Even though she does well, science is not her favorite subject.

I remember taking physics in high school.
I remember thinking that it was an applicable science.
It still did not interest me as much as writing stories or reading books.

All those years ago, a carnival would often come to town.
The kind of carnival with Ferris wheels and a merry go round.
Tilt-a-whirls and the dreaded…yet exciting…Roundup.

I still remember the first time I was brave enough to go on that ride.
The Roundup is set at a 50 degree angle using centrifugal force to keep riders in place.
As many as thirty-two riders can be on the Roundup at one time.

I stood there, at the carnival, watching before I ventured on the ride.
The ride spun at great speed.
The riders began to scream.
I couldn’t understand what they were screaming.

I was apprehensive.
Finally, I decided to get on.
The Roundup began to spin.
Faster and faster it spun…I found myself screaming as well.
I can’t move…I’m stuck here!

Suddenly, the bottom was pulled away from me.
I was absolutely pressed against the metal sides.
I couldn’t move.
Around and around we went…yet it was as if I was glued in position.

Going back to physics class after the weekend, many of us were talking about that ride.
Centrifugal force our teacher explained.

There are really two forces at work.

Centripetal force literally means “center seeking” or the force that pulls a rotating object towards the center of rotation.
Centrifugal force literally means “center fleeing” or the outward force that draws a rotating body away from the center of rotation.

As the Roundup spun around, it literally pushed me against the side of the ride and held me in place.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do no want to do, this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:15-25)

There are really two forces at work.
The flesh and the spirit.

As believers, we are justified and clothed in Christ’s Righteousness.
We love God and His Word.
We want to obey Him.
We want to please our Heavenly Father.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies us…makes us holy…day by day.

Right alongside this delight in our salvation, our sin nature continues to rear its ugly head.
We want to do what is right…but evil is right there with us.

The enemy spins and spins his accusations.
As believers, we want to be as close to the center, which is Christ, as we can possibly be.
Satan spins and spins…trying to push us back…against the sides.
He tries to force us to flee the Center, which is Christ.

This is the continual conflict inside every believer.
Christ dwells in him…yet sin also dwells in him.
This side of heaven, we will always have this struggle.

One day, in the future, we will be eternally delivered from this conflict.
That is the ALREADY and NOT YET aspect of our salvation.

We are already saved, with the promise of eternal life within our grasp.
However, we are not yet in our glorious eternal Home with our Lord Jesus.
We are not yet free from sin.

Satan may lie, and accuse, and tempt, and lure.
The bottom may fall out from under us.
There is a Truth we must hold onto.

Our Center is mighty!
Our Center is victorious!

The enemy is defeated!
We stand on the immovable Rock.
The Center who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

 

 

2 responses to “Already and Not Yet”

1. Gina, I was never brave enough to go on the Roundup but was always amazed as I watched…great analogy!

   Reply

   • Sherie,
     I was young…and foolish…and terrified!
     Maybe I was to go on that ride all those years ago…just to understand the struggle we all have as believers, with the two natures within us.
     Miss you, friend.
     Gina

     Reply