Crystal Ball Christianity.

We spend our lives living for the future. We join this club or that club as we build the perfect resume to help us reach our “Future” goals.

I know there is some reality in all of that but in the world Kathy and I now live in, most of that seems little more than posturing and pedestal building.

Over the years I’ve heard it all. I wasted so much time trying to figure out what God was going to do with me. When you live life that way you miss something. What if someone had come to me and said “Rick, you will find your future quitting your job of 25 years, losing a race for Secretary of State and the real good stuff will come when you find out you have cancer?”

I’m not going to spend my life planning for the future because the future is right here and now. That moment that just passed was the future. The one that is about to come, wait, I missed it because I was to busy planning for something else.

Planning our lives loosely is a good thing. We can’t just “wing” it all the time. But I think most of us plan because we want control. We want a say in how our life looks and what people think of us. I don’t think God much cares about that stuff and each day my interest in self-preservation grows dimmer.

Oswald Chambers puts it like this “His (God’s) purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. His Purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. What men (and women) call training and preparation, God calls the end.”

I understand that everything that happens works towards the future. But when I live my life too far out there, my focus becomes on what I think will or should happen, rather than what God wants to do right now. I find great comfort knowing that I don’t have a clue and that I don’t have to. God is in charge of my future so all I need to do is understand that the next five minutes are what’s important. I don’t know what will happen this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I guess I’ll just have to trust that He knows and then see what it is when it arrives.

3 Comments

• 
  Joraeperkins July 27, 2010 at 8:36 am

  Rick,
  on one level makes perfect sense as this goes along with scripture Matthew 6:25-34. However, we also need to listen to God's direction for our lives. We can't just sit around and wait. There is training – after all Jesus went to the temple – to go about His father's business. He was learning and preparing for His future. Having said all that, we aren't supposed to fret. Have a blessed day.
• 
  Joraeperkins July 27, 2010 at 10:36 am

  Rick,
  
  on one level makes perfect sense as this goes along with scripture Matthew 6:25-34. However, we also need to listen to God's direction for our lives. We can't just sit around and wait. There is training – after all Jesus went to the temple – to go about His father's business. He was learning and preparing for His future. Having said all that, we aren't supposed to fret. Have a blessed day.
• 
  Rick Dancer July 28, 2010 at 6:33 am

  It’s a balance Jo Rae. I think our Father’s business may be much different than what we think it is and I believe it changes all the time.