for you do not know what a day may bring.
Many people are focused, no, they are fixated, on their future. They obsess about their current finances and their retirement funds, and they have grandiose plans that they LOVE to tell others about. What they will do, what they will buy, how people will be impressed, and how happy all of that will make them.
Well, we know that our Father would have us be wise, and prudent, and prepare for the future. So this verse doesn't mean that those plans and preparations are bad, does it? Nope. This proverb is not counseling against the things that will afford our families a better, safer life, or temporal security. It is in His plan for us to use the wisdom He gives us, and to do all in our power to make a good and happy life while we are here on earth -- and to bring glory to Him.
However, we are not to brag or boast about great things we will accomplish in the future. Our futures belong to Him. All we have is today --- we can't be sure we will have a tomorrow, or a next week, or next year. (Besides, we've read other proverbs that told us boasting was foolishness, anyway!)
This verse speaks to me and tells me not to put off any needful thing that I might do today, in the thought that I can accomplish it tomorrow, or another day. Helping out the person who needs my assistance, witnessing to that person who seemed interested when we last spoke, reading my Bible and praying so that I'm prepared for whatever God may bring into my pathway . . . all of these are things that should be done today.
James 4: 13-15 tells us:
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”In Colossians 4:5, Paul told his readers to:
5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.In the KJV, it reads "redeeming the time;" if you check in the NIV, it is translated to "make the most of every opportunity" . . . if we knew that tomorrow we would be in heaven, what would we want to accomplish today?
I just thought of some things I need to get done --- please excuse me!
Very thought provoking! Speaking as someone who's future is mostly in the past and who is also restricted because of health issues, I have stopped making big plans. However, redeeming the time in the present is something I need to think about and do a lot more. Thanks x
ReplyDeleteI've always tried to live for today while planning for tomorrow. Do what needs to be done, do what makes you happy(with the Lord's blessing)and live in the present while making sure you have made good decisions for the future. That's really all we can do. We always say you can't live in the past, but you can't live in the future either, so to speak. I can't understand being miserable now, so that you can be happy later. Just doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading everyday. I truly appreciate your writings. On Sept. 30 I was sitting next to my Mother in Law, stroking her hand, as she took her last breath. The family issues are going to be very complicated. Praying that the Lord will give us wisdom to work with the other siblings. She was 97 years old and could never understand the need for salvation when I tried to talk with her. The last morning before she died my DIL asked if she would like to pray. Her response was, "It couldn't hurt." She actually prayed after Katie the prayer of Salvation. I can only trust that it was sincere.
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