Don't Miss the Present

There are times in my life where I have been so focused or concerned about what is going to happen or what I wanted to happen that I didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to what was actually happening. After watching the movie "Up" with my kids last night, I realized that the main character, Carl, did the same thing. He wanted so badly to go on an adventure with his wife to Paradise Falls that it became his focus. Near the end of the movie we see Carl looking at his wife's "adventure book" feeling like a failure because he wasn't able to take her to their dream place so she could complete the "things I'm going to do section" of her book. As he is closing the book, he realizes that there are pictures in that section that he didn't know about. His wife had put pictures of their life in that section, her adventure had been their life together. He was so focused on his idea or dream of what their adventure would be that he missed the actual adventure of living life with his wife.

The apostle Paul struggled through this problem of being so focused on the future that you miss the present with the church in Thessalonica. Some of the people were so focused on Jesus' return that they stopped working so they could wait for the second coming of Jesus. These people were so excited and eager for the future to come that they stopped living in the present. We do this too. We get so focused on finishing school, getting a new job, etc. that we miss what God would have for us right now.

I have been watching a new show this fall called "Flashforward" in which most everyone on the planet saw a vision of the future during a global blackout. Since waking up from this blackout people are either trying to ensure that the future happens as they saw it or are trying to prevent it from happening. Everyone in the show is living based on these visions of the future which is causing them to change how they live in the present. Only God knows what will happen in the future, only God knows when Jesus will return. While it is good to think ahead or to plan ahead, it is not good to do it at the expense of NOW. Since we do not know when Jesus will return we are to live as if it could happen at any moment, we are to be ready. It is impossible for us to be ready if we are so focused on the future that we miss the present. God has a plan for you for however long you are here or until he comes back, that plan includes today. Don't miss it!