What About Today?

What About Today?

by David Brenneman 

"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”  Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.  Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.  But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." 

James 4:13-17.

You probably woke up to some kind of expectation about this today you find yourself in. 

You might have thought your day was planned out.  Then this didn't go as planned or that fell into your lap.  A snowball effect begins.

You are in a race and while turning a corner stumble over something or someone else in your path.

How do you react?  

Dr. Charles Stanley's Life Principle #20 "Disappointments are inevitable, discouragement is a choice." 

This has been on my mind a lot lately.  

Robert Burns is quoted as saying  "The best laid plans of mice and men oft' go awry...and leave us nothing but grief and pain, for promised joy!".

Oh do I have plans.  Mostly my plans do not come close to my budget on time or possible materials.  Work often is in the way of many things. 

What do you do when life is now throwing curve balls?

Even in these kinds of emotionally charged and difficult times Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." comes to the forefront of the mind...or at least it should be the practice of our lives. 

Disappointments are inevitable, discouragement is a choice." 

We can choose our reactions to things that aren't going our way. 

This is at least partially what is meant by "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus". 

This weekend is a good example.  Sure I had other plans.  Sure my plans were in place for over a year.  God's saying to let go of those plans because He had other things in mind.  

Time is, regardless of what the song says, is not on our side.  We do have a certain, specific, set amount of time on this Earth. 

Our wants and desires tend to be more pleasant when they align with the wants and desires that God has in mind for us.

We really do choose to be discouraged or not to be discouraged.  The choice has to do with selfish desires.  We see how the situation or circumstance affects us personally and we get upset about it rather than react as Christ Jesus would react. 

The goal, after we come to Christ for salvation, is that we learn how to live life in the character of Christ. 

We can live in fear of the days ahead or simply trust the One who was powerful enough to overcome sin, death and the grave.  We can focus on all that our eyes see and ears hear or our bodies relate to or....or...we can trust in the One in whom holds all our days.  

Jesus said rather clearly and without any kind of parable what our expectations should be about today and tomorrow. 

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,  yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!  Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’  For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-34.

So many people over compensate on preparing for tomorrow.  So many people who claim to be Christians are truly worrying about tomorrow rather than praying about tomorrow. 

Are you leaning into this yet?

Jesus has something in your today for you to accomplish. 

Jesus has something for you to be doing for Him in your here and now.

It may not look like anything you've seen before. It may not make sense for you for sure.  Steps of faith can happen at any point in time for the Believer in Christ Jesus.  When we take those steps our faith in Jesus grows and our reliance on self diminishes. 

So things aren't going your way? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Things going really good today? Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Someone did you wrong?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Something unexpected happened?

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. 

All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.