Faith drives us to seek shelter with God’s people. But when we get there, we better come with “not yet” expectations. In Luke 17:1-4, Jesus teaches his disciples to expect sin, warns against being the agent of temptation to sin, and requires that we rebuke and forgive sinners…The love and forgiveness we’ve received from Christ demands that we love and forgive one another. Without that expectation, you won’t survive life “in between.”

I usually advise young Christian couples against long engagements. An engaged couple has already concluded that they plan to spend the rest of their lives together by entering the covenant of marriage. However, until they consummate their commitment in the sight of God, they are not yet married and cannot yet righteously enjoy the privileges of the gift of marriage. “In between” seasons bring unique temptations and pitfalls, and I don’t advocate inviting trials unnecessarily.

With that said, some “in between” times are unavoidable. Israel wondered in the wilderness for forty years waiting to enter the Promised Land. Of course, they would have entered much sooner had they trusted the voice of God. Between the Exodus redemption and the fulfillment of Promised Land entry, those forty “in between” years proved to be a season of great testing for God’s people. David endured a similar trial as he hid in the wilderness from Saul, awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promise to make him king.

The Christian life is another unavoidable “in between” time. Christians can legitimately speak of salvation in the past tense—“by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:5)—but we are also awaiting salvation—“much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Rom 5:9). Much like Israel and David, we live in the “in between.” We are saved now by faith in Christ and have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. But the Spirit indwells us as a guarantee (Eph 1:14) of the fulfillment of all God’s promises in the future. We live between the “already” and the “not yet.”

When we forget that we live “in between,” we can easily make one of two mistakes.

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