Living in the Gap

I'm reading Habakkuk now, and it has been a good reminder to me of the importance of living by faith. As Christians, we know that the kingdom of God has been ushered in through the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. And yet, God's kingdom also awaits its final consummation when Christ returns. So, we live in the gap between promise and fulfillment. In this life, we continue to struggle with sin, doubt, affliction, suffering, evil, and persecution. What we shall be has not yet appeared, but when Christ returns, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Like the people of Judah in Habakkuk's time, who waited for deliverance from their Babylonian captivity, we too wait for our ultimate deliverance from this present evil age when Christ returns for us.

In the meantime, we live by faith. Here's an encouraging quote from The Prophets Speak of Him by Anthony Selvaggio: "We all struggle in our journey to faith. None of us can make this voyage from promise to fulfillment in our own power. The good news is that Jesus carries us through the gap from promise to fulfillment. The Bible teaches us that our ultimate destiny is not based on our faithfulness, but rather on his... We will persevere in faith because of the faithfulness of Jesus. He will guard us on our journey. He is faithful and he will do it. He is able to keep us from falling. He will present us before his glorious presence. We will make it thorugh the gap between promise and fulfillment because Jesus will carry us across the divide!"

To all of us who belong to Christ: Press on in him!

To those who are not Christians, you too can come to know Jesus Christ. Habakkuk tells us that "the righteous shall live by his faith" (Hab 2:4). We can have spiritual life by turning away from our sins, and trusting in Jesus Christ. He died on the cross to bear the punishment for sins for all those who would ever trust in him. Jesus shelters us from the holy and just wrath of God against sin. Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, and if we trust in him, his righteousness is freely given to us. We are righteous before God not because of our own works, but because of Christ alone. So how can we live? Habakkuk urges us to trust in the saving work of Christ on our behalf. This is what it means to live by faith.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2)