Are We There Yet?
We’ve all been there. The long trip that feels longer with every passing mile. Your GPS’s ETA figure laughs at you from its high horse up there on the windshield. The needle on your fuel gauge only swings one direction, and never in your favor.
Someone in the backseat grinds this bleak reality into your consciousness: “Are we there yet?”
No, you’re not “there” yet. But you’re somewhere. An old proverb says you don’t put your foot in the same river twice. Right now, your car’s four tires are in contact with some part of a road that exists somewhere, even if it feels like the middle of nowhere. You’re waiting for some imagined future, but you’re currently, presently, existing and experiencing something.
This is God’s work, as he shows a future salvation and restoration while promising his presence in your life now – as in, right now – and every moment until that future day:
“As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2, quoting from Isaiah 49:8)
The immediacy of God’s blessing seems to get lost sometimes. Instead, the work of God in your life may seem hidden, inadequate, delayed, or maybe even boring. These are examples of receiving his work “in vain.” In this passage, Paul encourages you to think of God’s movement right now.
“Now” means God is constantly at work toward his ultimate goal of salvation. “Now” broadly means the modern era, this age after Christ’s ministry and work yet before the Day of Judgment, and “now” also means NOW, as in, now, at this season in your life. This is the time of God’s favor, and it isn’t limited to something in the past or some future glory.
Having a good day? A bad day? Indifferent? Think of those mood charts with all the goofy smiley faces: sad, moody, lonely, angry, regretful, excited, lethargic, content, busy, miserable. Pick one. God is working in your life during those moods. Look at your wall calendar. Throw a dart at it. That’s the day of God’s work (along with all those other days too). The flat farmland you’re speeding through or the congested city you’re inching through, or any square inch of this world to which your GPS could ever deliver you, are all God’s domain for accomplishing his work.
Paul’s next chunk of writing talks about “endurance, troubles… in purity, understanding, patience and kindness… through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report…” (2 Corinthians 6:8). These are part of the journey. The grand, final, glorious destination is coming. But because God is at work right now, you have already arrived.
The great American road trip is a time-honored tradition, along with the resentment of the great American road trip. Even good trips are remembered like a hard-won battle. Completing one is an accomplishment because they involve a lot of work (and traumatizing gas-station bathroom experiences). Hang in there. You only have to travel each mile once.
John V16 is the intersection of God and cars. Please support our work and donate a V16-powered 1940 Cadillac Series 90 Sixteen to John V16. Or share this article with a friend.
