Have you ever looked to the future, knowing that something was coming, and had the feeling that once that had happened, then you'd be good to go?
The apostle Paul wrote a letter to the early church and says to them in Philippian 1:6, "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Throughout the New Testament, there are many images and metaphors surrounding the idea of being in process. It's easy to try and think in sprints and quick improvements, but a lot of what we see throughout the Bible is journeys that take time and ideas that point toward our ultimate perfection being realized only when God restores all things, and until then, we're being constantly refined and invited to look more like Jesus. We are in process.
Have you ever looked to the future, knowing that something was coming, and had the feeling that once that had happened, then you'd be good to go? For instance, "Once I go on vacation, then I'll be rested?" I call this "once I/then I" syndrome.
"Once I / Then I" syndrome looks like this.
Once I get there, then I'll relax. Once I go on this vacation, then I'll be rested. Once I lose weight, then I'll be happy. Once I have that item, then I'll be content. I personally find myself stuck here more frequently than I'd like to admit.
Have you ever done it in your relationship with God? Once I understand this, then I'll feel complete. Once Jesus heals this, then I'll move on. There's a danger in this mindset to do two major things. First, it can make us think that we've arrived, yet we won't fully arrive until Jesus restores all things. In some ways that's disappointing, in some ways it's encouraging because we don't have to put pressure on ourselves to achieve something unachievable. Second, it removes the continual process of growth. Sometimes we put an end date on our progress once we've reached a mile-marker of sorts. For instance, "God already worked on me with patience. I am patient now. I don't need to work on that." When, in reality, we probably have more work to do in that area.
So then the question is – How can you set healthy goals in your relationship with God, while also knowing that it's just one part of the bigger story?
I think one of the key elements is understanding that whatever "it" is, it's not everything. It's about progress. There's a saying that, while popular, is quite helpful. "Progress over perfection." And that's really it, isn't it? If we make our relationship with God about perfection and unhealthy mile-markers, we forget that it's really about growing in our relationship with him and finding ways to do that. If we are chasing "once I/then I", our relationship with God can inadvertently become more focused on behavior modification instead of belonging in His family and being in relationship with Him and with others.
Can you, can I, rest in the simple beauty of relationship with God? As you change your routine and rhythm during the summertime, maybe change your focus from production to enjoying your relationship with God. Don't make it about achieving something with Him. Make it about getting to know Him and just spend time with Him. My friend, Marc Johnson once told me on a drive up to the Boulder Valley, "enjoy God enjoying you." I was headed up to fish for a couple of days and Marc's encouragement was centered around letting the moments I was fishing become synonymous with God's enjoyment of me – He after all created me and created the rivers and streams and environment I was going to be in. Why would God not take delight in my enjoyment of His creation?
Let's choose to embrace the rhythm of life with a posture that welcomes the changes and makes room for progress over perfection. And we get to rest in these words from Paul –
"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."