We are always aware of our past failures and sins. And there is the necessity of never forgetting our past: what Jesus has saved us from. But we cannot dwell there. There is the equal necessity of always remembering our future: what Jesus has saved us for. If we are saved from death by His crucifixion, then we are also saved for life by His resurrection. 

In remembering what Jesus has won for us in His death and resurrection, we are doing something more than bringing back to our mind the facts of what He’s done. We are keeping before our minds and heart the act of what He’s done and, by faith, embracing and living into the ongoing present-future results of that act. In short, we embrace the living and reigning Jesus.

Since Jesus has redeemed and bought us with His own precious blood, surely it is no insignificant future and life which is ours in Him. In Him we are new creations now. He has given us a new heart now. He renews our mind now. He has given us His Spirit now. While the new heaven and earth and our new life have yet to be fully revealed and realized, the kind of humanity we will be and the kind of life we will live has already begun. In Christ the Kingdom of God “is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21-22), “the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28); the first fruits of a new humanity have come (1 Corinthians 15:20-23); all things are being made new (2 Corinthians 5:17; Revelation 21:5).

So we can begin to walk in this newness of life now. We can practice our future now. How? Why? It is Christ who is being formed in us (Galatians 4:19); it is Christ who is living in us (Gal. 2:20; 5:22-25) Because of Jesus, God is working both in retrospect—in light of what has come to pass—and in prospect—in light of what is yet to come. We live in wonder. We don’t have to wait until Jesus returns to begin to live the abundant life He promised us. Like Joseph who secured enough grain both for the present and the future good of his people in Egypt (Genesis 45), we taste and see but a small measure from the full storehouse of God’s goodness which Jesus has secured for us. 

When we practice forgiveness, we are practicing a future in which all our relationships will be healed. When we practice repentance, we are practicing a future in which we will be completely transformed. When we practice humility, we are practicing a future in which we will truly see ourselves and others as God does. When we practice comforting one another, we are practicing a future in which all sorrow will give way to everlasting joy. When we practice encouragement, we are practicing a future in which we will be perfectly united to Christ. 

We don’t and can’t produce our future, but we do and can practice our future by the grace of God given to us in Jesus. Though what we are has yet to fully appear, our inner man is being renewed day by day until “Christ who is your life” finally appears (Colossians 3:5).