Paul claimed that he had not already attained or been perfected or had apprehended because he is referring to his goal, the prize of the upward call – his final transformation.

When hopes are dashed, and grief is raw, that’s ‘Saturday’. When all your purpose seems absolutely purposeless, that’s ‘Saturday’. When you heart hardens into a callous pursuit of self-gratification or worldly comfort – that’s ‘Saturday’. When doubts and fears surround, and you feel like hiding – that’s ‘Saturday’.

And many, if not most of us can get stuck there to some extent.

When Jesus was challenged about His ministry to “sinners”, He spoke three parables – one about a lost sheep, another about a lost coin and one we all remember, the lost or prodigal son. All three speak of loss but the primary point of view of the first two is of the seeker and that of the third is of the one lost.

A rarely mentioned attribute of God’s creation is that it is filled (pun intended) with containers. You see, people are containers; the earth is a container, the cosmos in its entirety is a massive container. And of course, there are containers for virtually everything – material and spiritual. But there is one exception to this – God, Himself. God does not contain, God is and God fills.

You know the story. Jesus appeared on the shore and called out to see how the fishing was going. It had been a fruitless endeavor all night. They didn’t recognize Him and He asked if they had caught anything. He got a one-word answer, “No!” Again, He tells them how to do what they ‘know’:

“Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So, they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. (John 21:6)

I can imagine John and Peter scratching their heads, thinking, ‘this seems familiar’ when suddenly John blurts out, “It’s the Lord.”

Furthermore, Gabriel went to the village of Nazareth, basically a “non-place”. It wasn’t even mentioned in the Old Testament or in the rabbinical writings. A shoddy, corrupt stop between the ports of Tyre and Sidon, it was basically overrun by gentiles and roman soldiers.

When you listen to our enemy and identify with your body, your ‘flesh’, with the name on the lapel tag, even though you’re born again, you’ll be plagued by the pernicious sin-nature of your body and like the dear Apostle Paul when he bemoaned:

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Rom 7:15)

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. (Rom 7:18)

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. (Rom 7:22)

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Some people just think they should see some proof of God. They can say, “But I didn’t feel anything.” Or “But I don’t see any change.”

They think of God’s handiwork as a magician’s act. But that attitude denigrates God and belittles His plans. He does all things in His time and way, and if He says something, it is guaranteed absolutely whether or not it is visible to our eyes. This is the ‘stuff’ of Abraham’s faith – an old man, a long life, an apparently unwilling God but when He spoke the blessing, Abraham believed, and for that attitude God considered him righteous. (See Rom 4:3)

It was indeed about 4000 years since Adam was exiled from the garden and specifically the Tree of Life. According to Peter in 2 Peter 3:8, that’s four days to the Lord. As God warned, Adam (and mankind) died after eating of the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. As with Lazarus, God waited for the right time to make that right. He waited four days to raise him from the dead.

But while the garden of Eden ended in death coming from a deadly tree, Jesus brought forth another tree, the cross of Calvary which became for us a tree of Life. That’s because when you believe in Jesus’ Name – God saves - you are doing God’s will: