Growing up I often heard pastors and preachers say "Hold on, the best is yet to come!" and/or "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" In fact I saw a post on Facebook not too long ago where an individual was boasting about his church being full and said the latter of the two above phrases.
In seeing that post I was forced to ask myself "Is the "best" yet to come?" and "Is it accurate of us to say and think such things?"
We are to expect good from God and look brightly towards the future, but is there something to us saying "look at all this good, but this ain't nothing!" My memory is drawn back to the ending of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, The Last Battle is listed as book #7 of the Chronicles of Narnia series, and my personal favorite. The phrase that stuck out the most was "further up, further in!" which drew attention to the world of New Narnia growing bigger and more beautiful the deeper they traveled in.
In a sense, the best IS yet to come for Christ will one day return and restore all that is broken and recreate the World as it is meant to be: pure and sinless.
Another thought my mind is drawn to in reading this statement is "the best has already come" for Christ came! He came, He died, and He rose again! He established His church on the Earth and paid the price of sin! But, we are still waiting for the work to be completed in the World...so again we are drawn back to Christ coming back.
I guess what really bothers me about the use of this phrase is that it rarely is stated in reference to Christ returning. It is usually being stated in terms of success, blessing (what ever that is), and numbers. It is materialistic based or business based.
I am truly torn in two over this.
We should expect good from God even before the return.
God is not obligated to make things better and we don't deserve better or even "the best".
God is a good Father to His "children" and gives good gifts to them.
Our hearts are perverse and are caught up in the self and material world.
When we say "the best is yet to come" are our hearts on the right things? Are diminishing the good that God has already been given us and devaluing what is already given? I think that we should expect good from God, but our looking and saying that more is on the away is often said in misplaced expectation and is often rooted in a twisted understanding of the Gospel. Let us be careful in our speech and let us search our hearts, asking God to cleanse us by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that we might be made pure and holy.
Peace be with you,
Stephen
In seeing that post I was forced to ask myself "Is the "best" yet to come?" and "Is it accurate of us to say and think such things?"
We are to expect good from God and look brightly towards the future, but is there something to us saying "look at all this good, but this ain't nothing!" My memory is drawn back to the ending of The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis. For those who are unfamiliar with the book, The Last Battle is listed as book #7 of the Chronicles of Narnia series, and my personal favorite. The phrase that stuck out the most was "further up, further in!" which drew attention to the world of New Narnia growing bigger and more beautiful the deeper they traveled in.
In a sense, the best IS yet to come for Christ will one day return and restore all that is broken and recreate the World as it is meant to be: pure and sinless.
Another thought my mind is drawn to in reading this statement is "the best has already come" for Christ came! He came, He died, and He rose again! He established His church on the Earth and paid the price of sin! But, we are still waiting for the work to be completed in the World...so again we are drawn back to Christ coming back.
I guess what really bothers me about the use of this phrase is that it rarely is stated in reference to Christ returning. It is usually being stated in terms of success, blessing (what ever that is), and numbers. It is materialistic based or business based.
I am truly torn in two over this.
We should expect good from God even before the return.
God is not obligated to make things better and we don't deserve better or even "the best".
God is a good Father to His "children" and gives good gifts to them.
Our hearts are perverse and are caught up in the self and material world.
When we say "the best is yet to come" are our hearts on the right things? Are diminishing the good that God has already been given us and devaluing what is already given? I think that we should expect good from God, but our looking and saying that more is on the away is often said in misplaced expectation and is often rooted in a twisted understanding of the Gospel. Let us be careful in our speech and let us search our hearts, asking God to cleanse us by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that we might be made pure and holy.
Peace be with you,
Stephen
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