present

When we dwell on the past or fixate on the future, we can’t make the most of the time we have. Let’s learn to fully live in the present.

When I was a little girl, for all practical purposes, I lived outside of time as we know it. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my family lived on a small, sustainable farm without electricity, indoor plumbing, or other modern conveniences.Local school kids and youth camp groups used to come out to our homestead for field trips to literally see how the pilgrims used to live. Except my family wasn’t just reenacting history, we were living it!

In lieu of electric lights, we showed the kids how we rendered beeswax and paraffin for hand dipped candles to light our home. Rather than driving to the local grocery store, we explained how all our food came from our farm–eggs from the chicken coop, meat from the animals we hunted or butchered, vegetables from our gardens, and fruit and berries from the orchard. And instead of looking at a watch or clock to check the time, we noted the angle of the shadows cast by the sun as it made its trajectory across the sky. We understood that time existed, but we were not slaves to it. We were simply living and doing the work that was necessary to survive.

Behind or ahead?

When I compared our lifestyle to that of our neighbors in their modern homes,it felt as if we were living a century behind. But as I observe today’s trends of doing it yourself (DIY), going green, and living sustainably, it appears as if my folks were about a generation ahead of their time when they moved off the power grid in the early 1970’s. Today, people are returning to methods that a decade or so ago would have seemed old fashioned. Folks are choosing environmentally friendly health and beauty products instead of chemically produced ones. They’re growing vegetables in their own backyard gardens and eating whole organic food rather than processed products. And they’re using essential oils and other natural remedies rather than relying so heavily on pharmaceuticals. It’s as if history is repeating itself.

That which is has already been, and what is to be has already been; and God requires an account of what is past.

Ecclesiastes 3:15, NKJV

A reckoning with time…

It’s as if we in the western world are in the midst of a reckoning with time. In the name of convenience and productivity, we’ve created a whole host of environmental, social, and health problems that we’re trying to dig our way out of. And time seems more elusive than ever. No matter how many time-saving strategies and gadgets we develop, no one seems to have enough time to accomplish all that they want to in a day.

People are stuck in the past, worried about the future, and don’t know how to live fully in the present. It’s like we are all little figurines in one of those old fashioned cuckoo clocks. Everyone’s rushing in and out of little trap doors and screaming cuckoo all the time. Before the hands of the clock fly off and hurt someone, let’s pause and consider how the Lord invites us to regard this time that He gives us.

Dwelling on the past…

We’re encouraged not to dwell on the past, but so many people seem to be stuck there. Whether it’s regret about a decision that we made or resentment for someone who hurt us, we can re-live old wounds over and over again. Others might dwell on seemingly positive things from the ‘golden years’ of their youth. That can’t be harmful, right? Actually, yes, it can be if we’re looking back nostalgically on years gone by and pining for things that are no more.

Dwelling on the past trains our minds and our souls to sort and filter for similar kinds of experiences in the present. Then we wonder why the same destructive patterns that have wreaked havoc in our families for generations keep repeating themselves. Or we lament the fact that our current life never quite seems to measure up to the memories we’ve created and recreated in our mind’s eye. But beloved, when we are reborn, we are made new in Christ. And if we will let Him, the Lord wants to do a new thing in our lives.

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17, KJV

And in Isaiah, we learn that we should literally forget the past:

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43: 18-19, KJV

Let's not spend so much time trying to unravel the knots of our past that we miss the new thing the Lord is doing in our lives. Click To Tweet

Fixating on the future…

Just as scripture instructs us not to live in the past, it also warns against fixating on the future. Often our uncertainty about what is to come breeds anxiety and worry. But we learn that worry does not help us get through today.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34, NIV

Rather than worrying what the next day will bring, we are to make the most of each day. Just like the manna, or the daily bread, that the Israelites would receive every morning in the desert, we are given 24 hours of time daily. We can’t stretch those hours out any longer, and we can’t save any of them either. What we can do is trust that what is coming will be good, because God promises us that it will be:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11, NIV

Indeed, He is leading us somewhere even better than we can arrange for ourselves or really even imagine:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9, KJV

Living in the present…

With no regret from the past or fear of the future, we are free to fully live in the present. And that’s where the Lord invites us to reside. With Him.

To live in His presence in every moment. To learn to walk daily with Him, trusting that He is ordering our steps. To know that He will shoulder our burdens if we’ll cast our cares on Him. To trust that He will feed us like the sparrows and clothe us like the lilies of the field. To experience the joy that He has set before us. To taste and see that He is good in the land of the living. To enjoy and make the most of our time with our loved ones. To win souls for the kingdom. To live out the desires that He has placed in our hearts. To believe that He is Immanuel “God with us.” Right now.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11, NKJV

How are you making the most of this day? Have you left the past behind? Are you rooting your hope for the future in Jesus?

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Schalk Neethling

Our hope, and our inheritance is not found in earthly things. Our inheritance is the promise of the Creator Himself.

In the early hours of December 10, my mom took her last ragged breath in this world and took a cleansing, pure breath in the next one. Her mind and body were instantly restored as she was welcomed home by a loving embrace from her heavenly Father. I’m sure my dad was standing or kneeling somewhere nearby and a joyful reunion likely followed.

My parents were middle class folks. Any meager savings they may have accumulated was spent on medical bills during the years my dad faced his battle with cancer. An inheritance isn’t something that ever entered my or my brother’s minds.

My father-in-law is 91. He worked in and retired from a factory. He and my mother-in-law had 6 children, so he also worked many odd jobs, in addition to any extra shifts he was asked to work at the factory. They were frugal; she sewed, grew a garden each year, and canned vegetables. As a result, their six children never had an unmet need. However, other than a small, rundown farm, an inheritance of large sums of money is unthinkable.

Since her death, my husband and I have attempted to close my mom’s estate, such as it was. We have chuckled at some of the absurdities of government, (don’t get me started)…such as having to take a $13.67 check from the bank to the nursing home so that Medicaid would not think we were stealing from the estate. Really. Oh! And having to call the Veteran’s Administration twice to inform them of her death only to have them deposit her funds, and then send us a letter to send it back. You can’t make this stuff up…

Inheritance: The Source of Our Future Hope

Inheritance. What comes to mind when you think of the word? The child of a wealthy person? People sitting around an attorney’s desk with an air of expectancy? Siblings fighting over heirlooms or the jewelry? The Jerry Springer show? Interesting where our thoughts initially go when that word comes up.

Recently, I was remembering a favorite passage of scripture I turn to in difficult times. You wouldn’t think Lamentations could give anyone cause for hope (!), however, these verses always renew mine.

This I recall to mind, Therefore I have hope.
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:21-24, NKJV

The Lord is my portion…

Today we have a tendency to think of a portion in regard to food, (as in smaller portions, since dieting is such a huge marketing focus.) Not surprisingly, there are other nuances of the word in the Old Testament that have become lost in today’s vernacular. In our simplification of the language for texting we often lose the richness of word meanings.

For decades the Psalms have given me much solace through seasons of trial, pain or loss. However, the full weight of the meaning of Psalms, such as Psalm 16:5, have only recently been dawning on my spirit.

Oh Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

Psalm 16:5, NKJV

Let your heart rest on that for a moment, as Asaph finally did in Psalm 73 after feeling jealous of his enemies.

GOD, everything HE IS, is our inheritance when we belong to Him. What does it matter if we have houses and lands? We have HIM, the God of Creation.

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Psalm 73:25-26, ESV

Inheritance: The Source of Our Present Hope

You might be thinking, “Well, yeah, in the sweet by and by He’s my inheritance, but what about now?”

David answers you…

I cried out to you, O Lord: I said, “You are my refuge, My portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142:5, NKJV

God is our inheritance here, too. He is our strength, our refuge, our deliverer, our fortress.

So, again, from where will your portion come?

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Quinsey Sablan

Time: Making The Most of It by Living in The Present