KINGDOM PROMISES: OUR PAST AND FUTURE

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.”  (Hebrews 12:28 NIV)

Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual growth for our future. 

-- Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest”

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ANTICIPATING OUR TOMORROWS

“Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”  (Philippians 3:13-14 NRSV)

The sure sign that we have an authentic relationship with God is that we believe more in the future than in the past. The past can be neither a source of confidence nor a condemnation. God graciously divided our life into days and years so that we could let go of yesterdays and anticipate our tomorrows. For the past mistakes, God offers forgiveness and an ability to forget. For our tomorrows, He gives us the gift of expectation and excitement. 

-- Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie in “God’s Best for My Life”

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THIS IS THE DAY

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalm 118:24) In other words, don’t wait around for another day! This is the only day we are sure of.

Accept with gratitude this day! Embrace the joys of this day! Seize the opportunities of this day! Commit your life to God this day!

Now please don’t misunderstand me. I am not singing the old hedonist song, “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.” That’s not what this is about. No! Rather, it’s about seeing life in this world as a generous gift from God. It’s about recognizing each day we have as a gracious gift from God and celebrating that, and seizing the precious opportunities it offers. 

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”

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GOD'S DAYS

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

There are two days in the week upon which, and about which I do not worry -- two carefree days kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall. It was mine; it is God's.

The other day that I do not worry about is Tomorrow. Tomorrow, with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond my mastery as its dead sister, Yesterday. Tomorrow is God's Day; it will be mine.

There is left, then, for myself but one day in the week -- Today. Any person can fight the battles of today. Any woman can carry the burdens of just one day; any man can resist the temptations of today. It is only when we willfully add the burdens of these two awful eternities -- Yesterday and Tomorrow -- such burdens as only the Mighty God can sustain -- that we break down.

It isn't the experience of Today that drives people mad. It is the remorse of what happened Yesterday and the fear of what Tomorrow might bring. These are God's Days -- leave them to Him.

-- Unknown, quoted by Doris W. Greig in “We Didn't Know They Were Angels”


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FINISHING THE DAY… AND THE YEAR

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson


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REVIEWING THE DAILIES

A filmmaking technique teaches us a way to see God in the ordinary.  A cinematographer, Bob Fisher, wrote a passionate article recently about the need for movie crews to spend some time every day reviewing the film that was shot the day before.  By delaying production temporarily to review the previous day's work, filmmakers can spot little mistakes while they can still be corrected and can celebrate what is going right.  In Fisher's words, "Watching film dailies is uplifting. It energizes everyone."

In a similar way, it's a very helpful thing for us to take a few moments to "review the dailies" with God.  You can do this right now by walking through yesterday in your mind with God and asking where He was present and at work in each scene.  Start with the moment when you woke up in the morning.  God was present, waking you up, giving you a mini-resurrection.  What were your first thoughts?  What do you think God wanted to say to you in that moment?

Then go on from one scene to the next through your day.  As I review what happened when I greeted my family, ate breakfast, and went through meetings at work, I see patterns emerging -- the ongoing presence of anxiety or anger -- that I miss when I don't take time to review the dailies.  Most of all, I look and listen to see how God is speaking to me through these scenes.  I realize He was talking to me through the words of another person or the lines of a book or the therapy of laughter.  The more often I review, the better I get at recognizing Him in "real time."

-- John Ortberg in God Is Closer Than You Think


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