The term “already but not yet” is something that sunk in for the first time when I started coming to Grace Church, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since we started our study of Hebrews.

This is the very definition and most basic form of the gospel to me: “already but not yet.” Jesus has already gone to the cross; Jesus has already redeemed me and every one of my sins from the past, present, and future—yet here I am, living in the “not yet.”

When we feel the weight of sin and shame, we are released but still struggle.
When we fall short for the 100th time today, we are forgiven but still deal with consequences.
When we feel the pain of this broken world, we can put our hope in our security and our home of Heaven—already but not yet.

While living in the “already but not yet,” we severely need people around us to call us out of our sin and who are not afraid to challenge us for the sake of our souls. At the same time, we need to sit and listen to others deeply and to love them in a way that causes them to move and act for the Kingdom.

“God didn’t create us for surface level friendships; He created us for friendships that would take stake in our hearts and camp out there for eternity.”

We are living in a world of the tangible, hoping in the intangible. We live in a season of faith and trusting in the One whom we cannot see. We persevere and put our hope in Him—the One who becomes tangible through those in whom the Holy Spirit resides. God uses other believers, other temples of the Holy Spirit, to speak and move in my life, and although I forget this part sometimes, for me to also move in theirs’.

So, in this tangible world, what does my community look like? What does your community look like? Surface level or soul level? God didn’t create us for surface level friendships; He created us for friendships that would take stake in our hearts and camp out there for eternity.

The friends who ask me, “How’s your heart?” but in whom I can still find rest—I am not drained by them. Instead, I am restored and ready to go back into work and into life. I leave conversations with them feeling lifted up and redirected towards the cross.

“Hebrews 10 doesn’t dwell on how we can benefit from those around us, but rather how we can serve them.”

As idealistic as that sounds, thankfully, these statements are representative of some of the people God has placed in my life. But what I find convicting is that as easy as it is for me to describe these specific people; I recognize how far short I fall in being that for others.

Hebrews 10 doesn’t dwell on how we can benefit from those around us, but rather how we can serve them. Instead of focusing on how others pour into me, the writer calls me to focus on how I can pour out onto others—how I can care for them, love them, encourage them, and motivate them to hold firmly to our faith.

“The community-less seasons are where we learn to buckle down and love others when we get nothing in return, to push through and walk in obedience even when we may not receive affirmation of our faith, and to motivate those around us to emulate the same love.”

When thinking with this mindset, I am reminded that I won’t always have community wherever I go. This call of Hebrews 10 is for every season of life; the call to love and serve others knows no limits. There are seasons where life-giving friends are few and far between, but that doesn’t mean we can’t turn around and be the life-giving friend ourselves. And these very seasons are where we are called to set our hope on Heaven and to persevere. The community-less seasons are where we learn to buckle down and love others when we get nothing in return, to push through and walk in obedience even when we may not receive affirmation of our faith, and to motivate those around us to emulate the same love.

So when I think about a Christian life, nothing quite explains it like “perseverance.” We are constantly drifting while always pushing forward towards Jesus. We are constantly growing while always stunting ourselves. We are constantly hoping in Heaven while always getting caught up in the world. Sometimes, in the too-often season when we feel off-kilter and unbalanced, the only thing we can do is to focus on living in the remembrance of the “already” and the hope of the “not yet.”