Life can be divided into three parts.
First there is the NOW. It would be the place on the mall map that says, "You Are Here."Everyone's NOW is different about 99% of the time. It is only on those rare moments like 911 when we share a universal NOW.Second there is the BEFORE. It is the place people look back to when they are dissatisfied where they are now.This looking back is not about having fond memories. It is about wanting to be in another place in another time. It is about envying a time when God was not messing up your life. (I will explain this shortly.)
Third is the LATER. Then everything will be better. Later is where most people go to daydream about a better life. A life without the current problems. Where everything will be fixed. This may not be how God sees later, but it is how we want to see later.
A Perspective of LIFE
- Now you may be in FINANCIAL trouble: The two ends of your paycheck no longer meet and every month are getting further apart.
- Now you may be ILL: You move through the day existing. Sturggling with medicine doctors visits
- Now you may be in a struggling MARRIAGE
- Now you KIDS or GRAND-KIDS may be living outside of sanity and safety: They are rejecting morals and any relationship with God. They are living like they are invincible and nothing can hurt them.
- Now you may be just TIRED: The grind
- It may be that Now one of the Destructive D's has taken over your life. (Debt, Divorce, Death, Disease, Dissension, Disaster, Disappointment, Discomfort)
When life gets really bad some make the mistake of looking back. It may not seem like the wrong thing to do, but as we will see shortly it is. First what do people want when they look back? Usually they want a time...- When they could live on their income. You could pay your bills and not have to choose between medicine or food.
- When they were not ill. When you got up and lived and did not think about how tough it is to make it through the day.
- When there was still love in their marriage. When you held hands, dreamed, believed. A time when you wanted to see each other instead of wanting to be apart.
- When the kids played with legos and listened to them. A time when you could tell the kids no and they would listen.
- When they were not tired before their feet hit the floor in the morning. You had hopes and dreams and looked forward to the day and the possibilities it would bring.
Most people see later as the pie in the sky time, as a time that they can say:- Then I will get a raise, or inheritance or win the lottery or find a rare painting at a yard sale.
- Then I will not be ill. I will have been healed by a new drug, or God will have sent an angel to touch me. I will be written up in medical journals for the new surgery that was used to save my life.
- Then I will have a happy marriage. It will most likely be to someone else who understands me. (Just a note here your next marriage will have half the problems the current one has because you will be in it.)
- Then my kids will graduate from school, get a joy, get married, accept God, and have kids who will not listen to them. (That is the least they deserve and it will make you very happy.)
- Then in the future I will have more energy.
A perspective of LIFE from the OLD TESTAMENT
We will use the Hebrew people as they were led across the desert as a way to better understand how we see life and what can be wrong with the way much of what we do is wrong.
NOW for them can be seen in Exodus 15.22-27 the Hebrews have escaped Egypt and are following Moses in the Sinai desert. They went three days without water and started to complain. Their focus had moved from escaping the Egyptians to the overpowering sun and the massive amount of sand that surrounded them. God gives them water and moves them to a place with 12 springs of fresh water and 70 palms to provide shade. The sun and the sand were not taken away, but God provided the much needed water and shade. They problem for them was that there was more sand than water and sun than shade so they focused on the problem and not on what God was providing for them. God was providing manna, water, shade, quail, guidance, protection, deliverance and all they could see was the sand. Like so many they focused on the negative and failed to see how God was working in their lives.
This started them to want to LOOK BACK at BEFORE when they were slaves and safe in Egypt. They started to see a time when they were not lost in the wilderness. A time when God was not expecting so much of them. A time before when everything was perfect. They started to focus on the good ole days! Numbers 11.5 is one of the most telling scriptures when it comes to the power of sin to look good. They said that they remember when all their food was free. They were slaves but they seem to have forgotten that, and what do they want, crave, desire. What are they willing to give up a relationship with God for. They missed the fish, cucumbers, melons, onions, leeks, and garlic. They made it sound so good. It was like they thought the Egyptians gave them fish sticks with a cucumber salad, melon balls for desert, and some french onion soup with leek and garlic sprinkles.
The key here is that they were looking back and remembering a life without God as the best time in their lives.
They should have been focused on LATER. God had promised them that if they followed Moses across the sand that he would give them a land flowing with milk and honey. (Leviticus 20.24) I know that it is hard to imagine where you have never been but to reject God and prefer Egypt where they are slaves over the Promise Land where everything is free. And milk and honey is better any day over what they had before.
A perspective on LIFE from the NEW TESTAMENT
NOW is something Jesus is very aware of. He promise his disciples (this includes you and I) that he would be with them always. (Matthew 28.20) This cover a lot of time. Always covers the past when he was with us. It cover the present where he is aware of all we are facing, and it covers the future where he has already been getting ready for us. The concept that there is anytime, anyplace, or any reason that we would be better off without God (Jesus) just does not exist.
BEFORE is a subject that Jesus dealt with directly. In Luke 9.62 He said “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” That is huge. LOOKING BACK like the Hebrews did in the wilderness, like Lot's wife, is grounds for elimination from serving Jesus and receiving eternal rewards. It is not wrong to remember. My wife and I watched a video of my kids when they were little the other day. We enjoyed watching them. My wife was just smiling and said over and over, weren't they just so cute. LOOKING BACK is wishing you were somewhere else in time when things were simpler and God was not making such strong demands on your life. It is bad enough to live in the NOW but to have to be surrounded by the sun and sand of your problems, that for some people is unbearable. When a life without Christ Jesus looks better to you than a life with Jesus you are in DEEP SPIRITUAL TROUBLE!
AFTER is a hard thing to imagine. The Hebrews in the wilderness could see Egypt clearly and fondly but they could not see the Promise Land of milk and honey. It is not any easier for us today. We are not promised a land of milk and honey we are promised a place where "There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain." (Revelation 21.1-4) I find that hard to imagine. After almost four decades in the ministry I have done 100's of funerals. Seen and worked with a multitude of failed marriages. (not mine by the way) Sat beside people with cancer, heart disease, mental problems, post traumatic stress from serving in the military, car accidents. I have had to notify people that their love ones are dead. I have had people get so angry they left the church because we changed the time of the worship service by 5 minutes. It is hard for me to imagine a time when there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain. No, I have to be honest, it is impossible for me to imagine such a time. I am looking forward to such a time, but I cannot imagine where I have not been. I guess I am surrounded by too much sun and sand in my life.
It is not the future or the AFTER when I want my prayers answered it is NOW right here where I am, surrounded by sun and sand. I ask God to help me see the water and the shade he is providing. It is right NOW I am praying for financial help, healing, my marriage, my kids. It is NOW I need to trust God and pay attention to what he is doing for me.
A perspective on LIFE for TODAY!
There are three things we all can do to have a proper perspective on LIFE TODAY.
- FOCUS ON JESUS right NOW: See what he has provided and don't let the sand and sun (problems) get to you. Pay attention to what God is doing NOW. When you start looking for the water and shade He is providing you begin to realize He is there for you everyday.
- DON'T LOOK BACK: Avoid the sin of thinking someplace else without God is better than here with God. No matter what you think BEFORE was not that great.
- BELIEVE THE IMPOSSIBLE: Even when you cannot see it with your eyes you have to grasp it with your faith. God is planning to do more for you than you can ever imagine. There is a land of milk and honey. There is a Promise Land you have not seen yet. There will be a time when tears cease to flow, when no one dies, when everything you cannot imagine becomes real. That time is LATER, but, LATER is closer than you think.
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