FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
Past, Present, Future, or Eternity?
DAWG … Daily Appointment with God.
Emphasis: Daily.
I do need to hear from My Father today for today, but right now I’m thinking about 2022.
Leaders do that. Men in business do that. Husbands and fathers should do that.
Look ahead I mean.
“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”
So I woke up today at 3AM today with ideas I simply had to write down to process later about the future that has to do with my leadership of FORGE. I read some Scripture in Psalms and the Proverbs chapter of the day, and had time to read a little bit in The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. (C.S. stands for Clive Staples. I’d go by C.S. too if that were my name.)
The Screwtape Letters is the brilliant fictitious correspondence between the Senior Demon Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood, a demon-in-training.
By “coincidence,”* Letter XV, which I was reading, was dealing with time. Remember, this is a demon speaking:
“The humans live in time, but our Enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity (which means being concerned with Him) or with the Present – either meditating on their eternal union with or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.”
So many thoughts began to flow from what Lewis wrote.
Ah, I’m to live primarily in the present with the huge, positive motivation of eternity always lurking. My past does shape me, but Jesus is mighty in turning my past mistakes and what others have done to me in the past, into growth in godliness and effectiveness in life (Romans 8:28). I can’t control or change the past. But Jesus can transform it. Dwelling back there does me no good. Understanding the past and learning from it so I can hand it over to Jesus for growth happens in the present.
When I’m growing now, in the present, I can be, well, present with the people around me. I can love them, listen to them, serve them now without being preoccupied about the past. The Gospel tells me that I’m God’s deeply beloved son, and I’m forgiven and He’s working in my life right now in the Present. He is here with me, now. The Gospel so thoroughly deals with the past that it is life giving in the present and roots me in the present.
What about the future?
The future is something I’m setting goals for and hope my goals come to be. (If you’re a problem solver, then the future consists of those problems you want to solve and fix.)
But I can’t control the future. If I’m always looking forward to what might be, what might happen (cross my fingers), then my life is shaped by a future which I cannot control. If the future doesn’t turn out to my liking, then I’m depressed.
But what eternity is like is talked about at great length in the Bible, even if the language of eternity is a bit abstract (uh, the Book of Revelation comes to mind). The New Heavens and the New Earth will be stunning, perfection, devoid of tears, awesome! (Revelation 21:10-22:21).
So when it comes to the subject of time, the Biblical focus is for us is not to dwell in the past or the future, but to live in the present motivated by eternity. In either case, it’s living with a gracious Father and Savior and internal Comforter 24/7/365.
What about:
“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”
That’s still a true line. We have to make some plans. The road to the future depends on what we lay down every day. Point: you can plan without being obsessed with specific outcomes. As I look back on my FORGE goals for 2021, one of the major ones was finished for sure … 6 months after I had hoped it would be accomplished. All good. The world didn’t fall apart.
So pray, think, get advice and plan for the future. But let the majority of your energy be spent living in touch with Jesus (I Thessalonians 5:17) in the present, which will enable you to live in touch with people too and will enable you to engage in the tasks that have to be done today which will impact tomorrow. Ultimately, leave the future outcomes to the King, all the while having a smile on your face that the best is yet to come.
This view of time leads me to shalom.
Your wife, children, and other people will enjoy being around you more too if this is your life.
You take it to heart!
Pete Alwinson
{*”coincidence” is a humanistic idea which rules out the reality that God is large and in charge of your life and mine. See Ephesians 1:11. God is here, and He is not silent.}
