Psalm 90:12 (NIV) Teach us to number our days aright, that we
may gain a heart of wisdom.
I was thinking recently about how
much of life is spent planning for the future. And we do it so confidently, as
if it is guaranteed. I certainly am not against planning for the days ahead. I
actually think it is wise. But what I think is unwise is the presumption that
tomorrow is guaranteed. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.
This year Joanne and I hope to spend
some time with our daughter and her family. We would like to visit our son and
his girlfriend in Florida. We hope to take a trip in September with two of her
siblings and their spouses. We’ve already booked flights and lodging and car
rentals. You have to plan ahead for these things. Want good tickets to a game
or a concert or an event? Typically you’ve got to get them early. Otherwise
they’ll be gone or they’ll cost you an arm and a leg. Got kids you hope will go
to college or on to some other kind of post-high school education? You feel a
need to start saving so you can help them. Right now I am at an age where I am
starting to think about retirement. It’s not all that far away. A financial
advisor would say to me… “If you’re just starting now, you’re too late.” Fortunately,
I did start thinking about it when I
was in my twenties, and hopefully I will be better prepared when I get there… if I get there. Tomorrow is
not guaranteed to me.
So wisdom teaches us to prepare for
tomorrow while at the same time recognizing that tomorrow may never come for
us. But does that make sense? It makes great sense. It makes the best sense.
Anything else is simply foolishness. Have you ever read a newspaper and noticed
obituaries around the holidays? When I was younger I had such an idealized idea
about Christmas that it was unthinkable to me that someone might actually die
on Christmas Day. That had to be wrong. That just couldn’t happen. But it does
happen – every year - year after year. It is unrealistic to live a life that
forgets that tomorrow is guaranteed to no one.
One area of life in which this truth
is critical is in the area of relationships. How many problems in relationships
exist because people thought there would be a tomorrow to deal with them? How
much unfinished business exists between fathers and their sons, between
siblings, between husbands and wives, between in-laws, between neighbors,
between _________. Wherever there is a relationship, today is the day to deal
with it. Today is the day to do all that we can to make it healthy and vibrant.
We can presume all we want about future opportunities to solve problems, but
tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. Procrastination is all about putting off
until tomorrow what we could or should do today. But relationships are too precious
to put off until tomorrow. Personally, I’ve seen a lot of suffering in people’s
lives because tomorrow came, and it ended up being too late. I like what
Frodo’s friend Sam says in The Lord of
the Rings… “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” Today is the day to do all
that we can to be right in every relationship we have.
No, it’s not wrong to have dreams
and hopes and desires for the future. It’s not wrong to make plans. Yet these
things must always be held in our hearts with the knowledge that Christ, and
none other, is Lord of tomorrow. Therefore, knowing His will and living in it
today is our highest priority. Do you have any unfinished business? Are you
putting off anything that God requires or expects of you – including a
relationship with Him – until a “better” time? Have you placed everyone you
love in the Lord’s hands, and are you willing for His will to be done in their
lives? Have you trashed your worries about tomorrow and learned to trust them
to Christ?
The only tomorrow that is guaranteed
comes from God to the person who has believed on His Son, Jesus Christ. That is
the only person in this world who truly has a hope and a future. Without
Christ, tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. So… make plans, but do not put your
confidence in them. Be confident in the Lord. So… dream big, but let your
surrender and submission to God’s will be bigger. And when it comes to those
you care about, treasure them today. Be right with them now, for tomorrow is
guaranteed to no one.
Romans 12:18
(NIV) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace
with everyone.
Luke 12:16-21 (NIV) 16 And he told them this parable: "The
ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He
thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my
barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19
And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things
laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."' 20
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life
will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for
yourself?' 21 "This is how it will be with anyone
who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
Proverbs 27:1 (NIV) Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not
know what a day may bring forth.
PRAYER: Lord, let me fully trust you for tomorrow and
let me live faithfully and confidently today in Christ. May I seek first your
kingdom and your will. May I have grace – a grace learned firsthand from your
love for me – for those in my life. My hope is in you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
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