Chris' Corner -- Sunday, October 25, 2020
We know there’s a past, a present and a future. If we spend all of our time regretting the past or daydreaming about the future, we will miss out on the gift of the present day of living. “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
The past is dead and gone. We need to bury it. The future is yet unknown. Life is too brief and time is too valuable for us to waste away our present days with doubts and fears, or things we can’t control.
We do have control over some things, but only in the present. We make decisions on what we think or dwell on, and how we spend our time each day. We only have control in real time. We are powerless to change anything in the past or live in the future before it becomes the present.
This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned about both the past and the future. When we learn about Jesus Christ, and the need we all have concerning Him, we become keenly aware of sins of the past and the need to get them re-solved. It is only when we accept Christ’s offer of salvation that we can find the answers we need to take care of our past, and gain hope for the future. Jesus Christ is the God of yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Once we obey Christ we have a relationship with Him. He forgives all of our past sins. They are washed away by His blood (Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16). We now have the weight of the past lifted from us. No need to worry or be concerned about them any longer. “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).
With our sins removed, we now can live in hope of a future home with God in heaven. Jesus promised this to His disciples in John 14:1-3. “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
This promise will become a reality only if we are careful to walk in the light and in the steps of Jesus (1 John 1:7; 1 Peter 2:21). Once we realize our past is forgiven, and our future secured, we can live confidently in the present. Who doesn’t want an abundant life? This is why Jesus, the eternal God, came to live as a man in our world regulated by time. In John 10:10 He said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Here and now is the only time we have to respond to God’s grace. Why would we waste our days, and not reach out to God now? Why would we wallow in the past knowing God can and will forgive our sins and ease our minds and refresh our souls? The apostle Paul recorded, “For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
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