Future

We all worry about what the future will hold. We consult many people and may use any means. Some people consult horoscopes, crystal balls, psychics, mediums, cards, tests, and much more. But can we really know what the future holds? Should we prepare for the future or is a futile search?
        
Today our culture has always been mesmerized by the possibility of someone telling the future, society in general has been as well probably since time began. We fantasize about our future when we are little, “How will I look when I am older”, “How will my life turn out?” We have many questions, but we are still seemingly stuck in the present yearning for something we cannot possibly understand. The future is always outside of our reach because it lies ahead, unknowing, and uncharted making us scared and anxious. We may boast about the future, brag about our goals, contemplate our dreams but we can’t truly see what the future holds. The Bible even says this, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. James 4:13-15.” For us to say we are going to do this and this and that tomorrow the Bible says is foolish. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, even if we have a tomorrow! We should say, “Lord willing, I plan on doing this or that”. We need to be flexible in knowing that by trusting God our plans may change into something different because we are relying on His will.  Scripture says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11.” God knows our future, as well as our past and our present. God has things planned out to give us peace each day, but it is up to us to follow His path. God has given us the choice to follow Him in our plans and our life to serve Him. We aren’t made to do anything but asked to serve because we love God and because He loves us. When we walk in His ways and start seeking His favor, we’ll be surprised at how happy we are no matter what goes on around us; “In the way of righteousness is life: and in the pathway thereof there is no death. Proverbs 12:28.” God will not lead us into a destructive path. He will not lead us down a road that will cause us to go away from His will. Things we plan on happening may not happen and we may be blindsided by other events that go on, but God has a will for this. While we may not be able to see it now or see how we can make it through another day, one day when all the chaos is gone, we can look back and say, “I survived by God’s guiding hand.” Even though Jonah messed up by trying to put his future in his own hands instead of doing what God said, God made his path a little difficult, whale sized even. Jonah survived 3 days in the belly of a whale, disgusting lesson to learn but needed and Jonah finally did what God asked him to do. He survived by God’s guiding hand. Another time was the three Hebrews boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who we know were thrown into the fiery furnace after refusing to bow down to an idol. They were warned twice that if they did not bow, they would be thrown into the furnace. They knew their fate. They understood their future was probably certain death. Facing all this they said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Daniel 3:16-18.” They understood that no matter what came life or death, their reputation and their love for God was going to see them through one way or another. They didn’t know they were literally going to be saved from the flames, but they had faith in God.

What about you? You have dreams, goals, and tasks to get done tomorrow. You may even have a list somewhere. What if you were challenged for your faith? How would you respond? “Let me check my calendar?”, “How is next Tuesday say, 4 pm?” Sometimes we don’t have that luxury of choosing the time to stand up for our faith. This man surely didn’t. He was sinking down deeper in the water with his adrenaline flowing and his pulse racing, he cried out for help. His future looked bleak and hopeless. A few minutes before he was witnessing a miracle and participating in one as well... “And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Matthew 14:28-31.” Peter had no idea how much his emotions would be all over the place at that time within seconds. He took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. The moment we take our eyes off Jesus our future begins to sink like quicksand, slow at first but pulling and constant. We take our eyes off Jesus onto something else to take His place, our future may be bright in our eyes but in God’s eyes it’s been dimmed, our potential has decreased because of our choices. Our fellowship may decrease and our interest with the world and all its trappings increased.

Our future is at stake by our present choices, we must always remember that. We cannot do anything in the future to change our past or present but our past and present determines our future. Our future is not set in stone and can be redefined no matter what is done in our past. This woman was going to pay for her past transgressions with her life. Someone was there watching the whole event unfold and changed her destiny. The Bible recounts it, “They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 4:4-11.”  Her choices led her down a path of sin and regrets. She was going to pay for what she had done. Maybe you are going through the same thing. Your life didn’t turn out the way you had imagined, something got interrupted in the process and destruction followed. Your present and future don’t look so bright anymore. You have options still. Jesus is still there willing to help you pick up the pieces and change your life inside and out. I can’t imagine how this woman felt when she looked around and all her accusers were gone, and the stranger stepped up to save her. Her future changed by this man who she didn’t know. She was forgiven and set free from her punishment and even her transgressions not by a judge but by a Savior. The Savior, Jesus Christ. Our future can be changed from our life of sin and regret by the Savior. Even if you have trusted Him with your life have you trusted Him with your future? Have you truly given you all to the Savior? Of course, it’s nice to give Him your past and acknowledge Him in your present but what about trusting Him with your future? Jesus tells us, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?... Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:25,30-34.” We tend to worry about our future just a little bit, which is good we should be concerned but we shouldn’t dwell on it and make it an idol itself, from checking our horoscopes, asking a psychic, and other things we can do shows we would rather trust in man’s ideals rather than God’s will. As the Bible directs us, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. 1 John 5:21.” Our idols may not be physical trinkets but things we put ahead of God. The decisions we make today impact our future it may be just a short time, but it may change our life. Even the smallest decisions can change us, that is why we need to trust in God each day to invest in our future. We must be proactive in our decisions that go toward God and not away from Him.

God tells us not to worry if we are following His will and listening to His wisdom, “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. Proverbs 3:24-31.” We should try to be an example of Christ each day to please Him and to give ourselves true peace and contentment.

Following God isn’t easy in a world set on doing what feels good and what is right in the moment. When temptation comes to set us back and hurt our future, we can either give in or walk away. We need to trust in God’s will not our own flesh. We need to realize that our sin may last longer than a moment and it has touched our lives to divide us, but it doesn’t have to. We can have victory over sin through God’s love when we seek forgiveness. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Romans 3:23-27.” When sin comes in our life, we need to get rid of it and get it behind us not serve it in our present or give it a place in our future. Asking God for forgiveness and changing our course of action is the only way to get our closeness back with God. 1 John 1:9 tells us how we can restore our past, reward our present and repaint our future, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.” God’s grace can totally restore us back to when we first got saved. Our slate has been wiped clean, like the adulterous woman. We need God’s grace and forgiveness when we step out and sin, but we need to recognize that we have sinned. We decided to leave God. I don’t think Adam and Eve realized how much their disobedience would cost them or humanity. Their costly error involved the whole human race’s need for redemption. A great quote says, "A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God's boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it." D.L Moody.  We need God each day and His grace to cover us.

The future is something we attain without ever knowing it. We move ahead in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years looking back and saying, “Where has the time gone?” We can usually look back and see our victories and our failures as they said hindsight is 20/20 but we don’t have to be blind going into the future. We may make plans, but we need to pray about them and use godly wisdom and discernment. Our future may be uncertain, but it can be a blessing when God is involved. We may not be like the adulterous woman or the three boys risking our lives, but we all have a life to live and a legacy to leave behind. Our future will one day become our past and we will look forward to new and exciting journeys with God no matter our age.

We are not promised tomorrow, we should realize that life is a fragile delicate amount of time for us. The Bible says, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27:1.” If tomorrow never comes, do you know where you would spend eternity? Have you accepted Christ in your past to determine your future? Have you invested in your eternal destiny? It is said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”- Abraham Lincoln. Don’t escape your responsibility for your soul’s destination. Your life is dependent on it.

If you have secured your eternal future, have you secured your legacy? Are you doing things that are pleasing to God and will be remembered? You don’t have to do great and amazing things but just be who God made you to be, that’s the challenge. Paul asks a good question,” For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Galatians 1:10.” Who are you pleasing? Are you seeking the praise of others or the praise of God? Are you wanting the applause of men or the blessing of God? We need to evaluate our life choices and our decision-making process to see what’s going on, because our future depends on it.  As the Bible tells us, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:5-8.” Amen. Jesus wants us to know He will never leave us nor forsake us, that means today, tomorrow and the things we’ve done in our past. We need to know God will help us and not fear what man may say or think, if we’re truly serving God that’s all that matters. Follow godly examples for your life, not pitiful ones. Remember your future awaits you sooner than you think. As it is said, “Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.” Bill Keane. Invest wisely your future before someone else does. Give God the glory, honor and respect and watch your life become enriched with blessings and contentment you’ve dreamed about.