When we think about the Christian life, we often focus on where we are going, i.e. on what has yet to take place. We look forward to heavenly glory. Even in this life, we look forward to the day when we will finally overcome a persistent vice or acquire a long-sought-after virtue. This future-oriented perspective is important and necessary for growing in our Christian life, but another perspective needs to complement it: the perspective of where we are coming from, i.e. of what has already taken place.

Take, for instance, what John says to the recipients of his first letter:

I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake.

I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. 

I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one… 

Do not love the world or the things of the world (1 John 2:12-13, 15).

John calls his audience to action, but the motivation for this exhortation stems from what has already taken place: God is already known, and the evil one already conquered.

As Christians, we know that God calls us to live a different kind of life from those who “love the world” (1 John 2:15). We often forget, however, that the foundational impetus for this way of life is not the hope of becoming different. As Christians, we live a different kind of life because we are already different. We live in a way befitting our status as God’s beloved children, as members of Christ, and as temples of the Holy Spirit. We live so as to maintain and deepen what God has already given us in baptism.

As we go about our lives, often struggling to live up to our vocation as Christians, it can be helpful to keep this past-oriented perspective in mind. We need not feel as though God expects us to come to know him all on our own, considering that God has already revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. We need not feel as though God expects us to resist the devil on our own, considering that God has already cast the devil out of our hearts in baptism, and established in his place the reign of Jesus Christ. All we need to do is live out of the graces God has already given us, seeking means to strengthen them, avoiding what weakens them, and asking for whatever further graces we need to grow closer to God as his beloved children.

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Image: Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. (used with permission)