I was thinking about time this morning. Time is that which really has no real image or portrait. I know we measure it in hours, days, months, and so on, but that's not quite what I mean. To a person trying to recover from an addiction, the "rest of his life" sounds like and impossibility to abstain from whatever has been troubling him. To a ten year old kid who can't wait until his sixteenth birthday, six years is a long time to wait so that he can finally drive the dream car he might be imagining in his mind. To a person who is approaching his ninetieth birthday, he may look back and wonder where all the time has gone. How did ninety years go by so quickly?
Moses prayed a prayer that asked God to, "...teach us to number our days, so that we may present to You a heart of wisdom." Jesus told His followers to, "...not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." James in his letter reminds us that we, "...are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, or the rest of today for that matter. We have no assurance that our lives will go on for a long time or a short time. What we do know is that we are here today, this moment, and this is where these verses can be an exhortation for us.
We live each day one day at a time. We've heard it said that yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised, so make the most of today. That's good advice especially for the follower of Jesus. We can live today with a view of being the type of person God calls us to be. We can utilize our time in each day to make the best use of the hours we've been given. We can shape our attitude and thinking to purposefully remember God's promises to us, and His instructions to us as to how we can and should live. The past is over. The future is in the hand of our Almighty Savior, who wants nothing but our best and His glory through our lives. We can choose to live with this mindset-today.
This doesn't mean that we don't set goals for the future, we should. Nor does it ignore the reality that sometimes past actions have negative impact on our lives today. What it offers us is the reality that negative consequences of the past on today will not last forever. There will be an end to the struggle. We know we can handle them-today. It also means that we can chart our course to achieving our goals, work toward them under the Lordship of Christ, faithfully doing what we're able to do-today.
We can do either of those for one day!
So no matter where we find ourselves on this continuum we call time, whether we're looking ahead into a future that seems so far away, or looking back wondering how we got to where we are now, it's a good idea under the mighty hand of our Savior Jesus to ask, how should I live-today? What should I BE, takes priority over, what should I DO. We will be amazed at how God will guide and create doors of opportunity as His good and perfect will unfolds upon the life that is devoted to Him for just one day-today!
My prayer for us all is to have a blessed day-today!
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