Two of life’s greatest enemies are the past and the future. I cannot change yesterday. I do not yet have tomorrow. And if I am not careful, I will allow the regrets of my past and plans for the future to rob me of God’s precious gift called “today.”
We all have a past. The apostle Paul wrote that we must forget those things that are behind and reach for those things that are before us (Philippians 3:13). Perhaps you think the man who wrote these words had no terrible thing to haunt his memory, no past recollection to discourage him. But you would be wrong. Paul had a past. He simply chose not to live in it.
Paul had failures, injustices, disagreements, criticism, disappointing relationships, conflict, difficulties – and a host of other things to get over. He also had accomplishments that had to be forgotten. Forsaken. Yet he discovered the powerful truth that God has made a way to get past your past.
It is time to get over your hurt. It is time to move on.
And what of the future? Many a man spends his days thinking about something better that is sure to come…someday. We plan. We dream. We look ahead. And we miss the present.
“Tomorrow” is the devil’s word. Ask Pharaoh. The Lord’s word is “today.”
One of the beautiful truths about the God of the Bible is that He is eternal. Not bound by time! God is not in time; time is in God. God dwells in the eternal now. He is always in the present.
Those who follow Him should learn that God’s great work is being done now. Stop bemoaning days gone by – good or bad! Stop talking like the good days are somewhere off in the future. Live today. Look to the Lord today. Love your family today. Make the most of the present.
Someone once wisely observed, “Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is legal tender – it is all that is negotiable.” Invest it wisely. Your past is being written in the present, and your future depends upon it.
