When the Present Meets the Future
It’s almost been two months since I began living and working in the nation’s capital. It’s been an interesting experience. While the theme of my 2018 trip to Germany was about spiritual solitude and drawing close to Christ, the theme of this trip seems to be about knowing Him better by interacting with those who are far different than myself.
Most of these interactions have been spontaneous. A few weeks ago, I sensed the Lord’s leading to buy dinner for a homeless person and let them tell me their story. Last weekend, the Lord suggested I spend some time with the homeless and enjoyed a Saturday afternoon with them. Earlier this week I stopped to help a lady that was having car trouble. These were all just things that I felt the Lord put on my heart to do. (And I haven’t exactly been consistent in my obedience.)
In DC culture, you don’t talk to strangers. You don’t make eye contact, and you certainly don’t smile. But the culture of DC is not the culture of Christ. To follow Him is allow Him access to your agenda, your time, and your intentions. To follow Christ is to follow Him into His works.
I’ve always been curious about Ephesians 2:10—especially that last part…
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
While this verse contains timeless truth, it’s also the conclusion to what Paul had written in his letter up to that point. In chapter 1, he begins his letter with a soaring revelation of the Lord. At the beginning of the second chapter, he transitions into a short passage about how this incredible Lord offered us grace and mercy—not only to forgive our sins, but to seat us in heavenly places where He is. Of course, we’ve earned none of this. It was all grace. But it was done so that we would be re-created in Christ Himself.
This sweeping revelation ends by answering the question why was all this done?
The answer is contained in Ephesians 2:10: For the good works that He prepared in advance for us to do.
Now, the fact that the Lord created us to participate in His work is intriguing enough. But the idea that He paced these works in the future specifically for our involvement is even more intriguing. Have you ever wondered how the Lord guides His children into those future works? How does He lead them to these very specific future responsibilities?
I’m not suggesting that I did anything earth-shattering with helping someone with their car or spending time with the homeless. But it’s not about our estimation of the impact, but about our obedience. Besides, it’s not unlike the Lord to demonstrate the Kingdom through simple acts of charity (Matthew 10:42).
So, if these actions were works that the Lord prepared in advance for me to do, how in the world did I know to follow Him into it?
Now, I get it. Some would say I’m thinking too hard about this. Besides, there are other ways to interpret that verse.
One could suggest that the “good works” that Paul mentioned is simply referring generically to the types of things that the Lord wants to see done to demonstrate His Kingdom on earth.
Another way some might understand that verse is that we simply miss more opportunities than we engage. After all, He prepared those works in advance that we should walk in them (not that we will). If we miss the ball, maybe someone else comes along, picks up the ball, and runs with it.
There may be truth in these alternate explanations. But I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the sovereign mystery of what the Lord is doing. In my post Following the King, I wrote about how the Lord has tended to be very specific in the direction He gives us. Of course, there’s theological space and eternal value in serving others simply as a response to His love. But even in that act, Christ is present and guiding our spirits in ways we may not perceive. (Don’t forget John 15:5—we can’t do anything of eternal significance without Him.)
So how do we find our way to connect with these works the Lord had per-ordained in eternity past? How does the present meet the future? Of course, whatever the answer is, I would be the first one to label it as a non-essential idea. Yet, Christ certainly looms greater in our spirits as we ponder his depths. And besides, there’s nothing like a good mystery.
Last week, I happened to catch a part of a movie that offers a brilliant illustration of how I think the Lord may have set things up for us to connect with and participate in His future works.
Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, is one of the most complicated movies I’ve ever watched. It’s been said that you probably need to watch it two or three times just to begin to understand and appreciate it. I’m not going to even try to explain the movie, but the plot revolves around a concept called inversion. In the movie, someone in the future has learned how to send items backward in time at the same rate that everything else moves forward. An inverted item would appear to you and me the same way a normal item would, except that we’re watching it having been affected by a cause that will occur later. Make sense?
Even if you don’t understand it, the concept makes for some pretty good action scenes with bullets flying backwards into guns and fist fights happening in reverse.
To introduce the concept, there’s a scene in the movie where the Protagonist is trying to learn how to interact with an inverted object. Specifically, he was trying to understand what to do to cause an inverted object to fly from the table into his hand (having dropped it in the future). I recommend you watch the scene here. (It will make a lot more sense than me trying to explain it.)
So, what does all this have to do with Ephesians 2:10?
Well, when I first watched this scene, I immediately thought, this is how the Lord works! In eternity past, He prepared good works in advance and scattered them throughout time, waiting for us to arrive in that moment where we perform each work to His glory.
But how do we know what to do when we get to that point?
The Protagonist recognized it as instinct. I love that the writer chose that word since we referred to our spiritual instincts in the post Drinking from the Source. When we are at the cusp of demonstrating Christ’s pre-ordained works, we will sense it and follow through with the activity. Our action will succeed because God Himself prepared it in advance.
So, do we do the work or does it succeed because God prepared it? Like in this scene, even though God prepared the work, from the work’s perspective, we make it happen.
And just like the first time the Protagonist tries first to force the bullet to jump into his hand, engaging in religious activity without sensing Gods work by instinct typically yields such poor results.
Trust that Christ will lead you into His work. But like the lab scientist said, don’t try to understand it.
Sensing Christ’s work becomes sharper only through practice.