Motivation Monday – What to Do When Life Is A Paradox
“Will you dare to be content in the now? Will you dare to be joyful in the now? Will you dare to face head on your current situation with strength, dignity, and faith?”
In this space in between what was and what will be, we often resort to all or nothing thinking. We feel like we have to make hard choices between embracing the now or dreaming of what will be on the other side of this unique and unexpected re-ordering of our lives.
If we are not entirely sure that things will straighten themselves out, that getting our nation vaccinated to herd immunity will make our world safer, we can carry a sense of hopelessness about the future, and stop believing.
If we are in denial about what is going on in our world, and only living into the future, we are liable to miss moments of real life in real time in the very real now.
Scripture reminds us that we actually don’t have the option of choosing between living now without a hope in the future vs. dreaming we will wake up to a new world on the other side of this pandemic. Some of us embrace the now to the exclusion of planning for the future. Some of us only dream about the future and fail to live fully in the present moment.
Rather we must choose to live fully in the present while believing in a promised future. We must live fully in our now while readying ourselves for our then.
Will you choose to live fully in your ‘now’?
Paul states this principle clearly in Philippians 4:11b-13 (The Voice)
“I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances. I know how to survive in tight situations, and I know how to enjoy having plenty. In fact, I have learned how to face any circumstances: fed or hungry, with or without. I can be content in any and every situation through the Anointed One who is my power and strength.”
These ‘whatever’ circumstances is our now. We didn’t ask for them, we couldn’t have predicted them with any certainty, and we definitely didn’t plan for them. It’s tight and we were made for freedom. We have experienced poverty and grief because our freedoms have been whittled from many down to a few. We have a few ways to gather, a few ways to work, a few ways to get by, and fewer places to go.
Nevertheless, says, Paul there is a source of power and contentment available to us that dares us to be joyful even in the midst of what we didn’t ask for.
Will you dare to be content in the now? Will you dare to be joyful in the now? Will you dare to face head on your current situation with strength, dignity, and faith?
Will you choose to live fully into your ‘then’?
It is this same Apostle Paul that urges us to be content in our present who also challenges us to focus on our future.
Philippians 3:14:
“I am sprinting toward the only goal that counts: to cross the line, to win the prize, and to hear God’s call to resurrection life found exclusively in Jesus the Anointed.”
You can embrace the paradox of being content in your present circumstance AND at the same time move toward your future.
You have been called to a both/and life.
We are weak of heart and lost for lack of vision. But we have someone to follow who forged the path for us.
We can run after Jesus who finished His earthly race and is also the author and finisher of ours.
Hebrews 12:2 reminds us:
“Now stay focused on Jesus, who designed and perfected our faith. He endured the cross and ignored the shame of that death because He focused on the joy that was set before Him; and now He is seated beside God on the throne, a place of honour.”
When life is a paradox you can choose a third way. You don’t need to choose the present OR the future but can live with contentment and joy in one as you prepare to move to the other. This beautiful paradox has been made possible by Jesus. With great joy, He did not waste a single minute of His earthly life present with us while also making our future possible by opening the door to us being present with Him forever.
You can have the now and the then. You can have not one or the other, but the both/and. Take it. Believe it. Receive it. Embrace it. This paradoxical truth is one on which Jesus staked His life. He is with you now. And He will be with you then. Be content. Receive the joy.
I believe in you!
Cathie