We have all been there. We’ve had to move or we lost a much needed job or we’ve started new chapters in our lives. These transitional periods offer not only a surreal outlook but also many challenges. Sometimes we must look for word, and the process seems to never end. Sometimes we are forced to continuously meet new people, and sometimes we are forced to simply stand by while the worlds spins around us. There are times in this life when we feel as if we are suspended in the air, not being able to live or move and our one question is, “What do we do?” or rather, “What can we do?”
I would like to argue that these transitional phases in this life are representative of our lives as a whole in relation to God’s work. The world we live in is currently transitioning between two stages of perfection. The first, the original created order, entered into a state of imperfection because mankind sinned against God.[1] This, of course, happened because God placed all of creation under man’s dominion.[2] The second, the restored created order, will be ours and God’s resting place forevermore. God will reside with His people and there will no longer be any death or sorrow.[3] As for now, every human life is suspended in the transitional phase of Biblical history.
“This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, wont He do much more for you — you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, What will we eat? or What will we drink? or What will we wear? For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”[4]
Importance of instruction
I want to focus specifically on one phrase, “…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” No matter how highly we tend to think of ourselves, when we are in personal transitional phases it seems each person always seeks the advice of others. In the beginning, mankind lived and breathed with the God of the universe and it will be so again in the future. As for now, though, mankind is suspended between one perfection and the other. In this phase, it is much more important for us, God’s people, to be seeking advice and learning from others. Instruction is important. Seeking God’s Kingdom is necessary because His Kingdom is not always apparent to us.
Instruction is such an integral part of our relationships with Christ that it becomes difficult to love Christ and to follow God without instruction because we do lose sight of God’s kingdom without it. When we lose sight of God’s kingdom, we lose sight of our own passion and vision. We lose our motivation to live righteously in a world that constantly denies God’s very existence. So, just as we seek instruction during the transitional phases in our lives, we should also constantly seek instruction on this earth concerning God’s kingdom.
Importance of a discerning mind
It is important for us not only to constantly seek God’s kingdom, but to also seek His righteousness. When we are in the transitional phases of our lives, we seem to be more careful that we do what is right. Thus is the definition of righteousness, only, we do not seek what is right on our terms, we seek what is right on God’s terms because it is his righteousness we seek. Since we find ourselves in this world’s transitional phase, we should be even more away of our action as it relates to God’s righteousness. If there is any question, then we need to reevaluate our own action, thought and belief. Difficult? Yes. Since we find ourselves in the constant transitional phase of this earth, an easy life is only evidence of our surrender to the imperfection surrounding us. A difficult life can be evidence of our surrender to God and our work in His righteousness. We should not settle for less than what God is working toward.
Needless to say, it is only through prayer to a real God that we are able to find correct instruction and discern according to God’s righteousness.
So, there is a challenge
In the transitional phases of our lives, we remember the transitional phase of this earth and resolve not to take the easy road. We will seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness and God will provide what we need through this transition and until we arrive in His unhindered presence!