I woke up with a lot on my mind this morning, but it’s not as if this is anything new. This seems to be the norm for me, I always wake up with my thoughts loaded as if my mind has been going full speed while I’ve slept.

I always know what is weighing on me by the contents of my head when I wake up. It varies, but it always comes down to two things: The brokenness of this world, and the war that rages in us between our flesh and the Spirit.

“Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?“, the Apostle Paul asked. Then he gave the answer in the next verse:

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 7:25 NIV

What was heavy on my mind this morning? One question: “How?” and my inability to answer it:

“How do I fix what is broken?”

How do I resolve homelessness for several people I know who are either without a home, will be without a home or are living in conditions that they shouldn’t be?

How do I help people that are sick and going so obviously downhill?

How do I help people that need Christ but seem to want to exhaust every last avenue until they reach for what is offered freely?

How do I help people that have Christ but are seemingly trapped in incorrect thinking about the truth and won’t hear it?

Being around these things sure makes reality set in, doesn’t it? We live in a broken world.

Paul spoke about this in Romans 8:18-25:

[18] I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

This current world certainly can’t hold a candle to what is promised to us in Revelation 21, the new heaven and earth.

[19] For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

These “children of God” (true Christians) will be revealed in Revelation 21, but they should certainly also be being “revealed” now. If the current world isn’t seeing our light then shame on us!

[20] For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope [21] that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

God could have not allowed the fall, but He did and we, quite simply, trust that He knows what He is doing. He has a plan and that plan is very much in motion.

[22] We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Something is coming, Revelation 21. A mother whose time has come must go through labor pains to get to the point where she holds the miracle in her arms. The same is true of this world; the broken world is necessary for when completeness or the perfect comes, Revelation 21.

[23] Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

We, the children of God, feel this same pain. But unlike those who don’t know Jesus, we have a promised hope!

[24] For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? [25] But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

So Revelation 21, our promised hope, is something that we are to wait for patiently.

I’m not always good at being patient, “Are we there yet?”. But my mind is also torn on this, and that’s a good thing:

Revelation 21 is the answer to “the pains of childbirth”, but when those pains have passed there will be no more chances for those who are without Christ to gain Him.

This is why the pains are necessary.

Those who are homeless, almost homeless or in bad conditions need our love, compassion and edification. We may not be able to drop an answer in their lap, but we can make sure they aren’t alone.

Those who are sick also need our love, compassion and edification. We may not be able to instantly cure them, that’s God’s choice. He is still in the business of miracles, but whether that comes now or the healing comes in Revelation 21 is His wisdom not mine. But, we can make sure they aren’t alone also.

Those who are without Christ also need our love, compassion and edification. We can’t make the decision for them, it’s the Spirit that draws them. But we can make sure that they hear the gospel and, just as importantly, see the gospel working through our lives. A testimony of how it works is far more powerful than a sales pitch. We can make sure they aren’t alone.

Those who have Christ but are fighting truth also need our love, compassion and edification. We can’t make them accept the truth, that’s the Spirit’s job. But we can make sure they lovingly hear it in a Spirit of gentleness (as Paul said) and not in one of anger because our pride got the better of us and is wounded by being told we are wrong. When we get pridefully angry over disagreements we slam the door of reconciliation in their faces. We need to make sure they aren’t alone.

How long are we going to keep trying to do the right thing using the broken part of ourselves? The part that is of this broken world and will be destroyed with the old creation so that the new heaven and earth can replace it?

The early church fathers writings noted a major drop off in miracles and what would be considered “sign gifts” around the 3rd to 4th century. They also noted a similar drop off in believers who were devoted to being led by the Spirit at this time. They also noted a shift from smaller church gatherings to larger congregations and from multi-directional discourse in church gatherings to messages that did not involve back and forth discussion around the same time. Church attendance became passive rather than active.

I don’t believe in coincidence.

The power of God in us is through His Spirit.

We can’t be effective for His Kingdom in the power of what is broken and about to be discarded.

We can’t be led and guided by the Spirit of God if we won’t even give him one square foot of ground to set His feet on. You can’t fill what is already full!

Dear old Pastor George Hufnagel used to hold up a bottle of Dr Pepper, his favorite soda. He would say “The bottle is me, the soda in the bottle is my thinking, my desires, my flesh, my wants and my wisdom. The air outside is the Holy Spirit. How do I get the air into the bottle?”.

Then he would take the cap off and drink it.

The Holy Spirit having full control over our lives is not a passive thing! It requires our surrender!

What do I need to surrender? Well, what did Pastor George say was in the bottle?

We can only be effective for this broken world if God’s Spirit has control. Stop putting these requirements off until tomorrow or telling yourself the lie that they aren’t necessary.