TOMORROW

For some reason whenever I think in terms of expectations for tomorrow my mind gravitates to one particular bible story. It was the one where Jesus spoke of the man who tore down his barns and then built bigger ones. After words he sat back and decide the rest of life would be easy. That tomorrow was going to be great since he had carefully planned out his future.

The only hitch was that God was going to require his soul that night. So all of his labors and all his planning were going to have no value to him. Maybe to the person inheriting his possessions, but not him.

Was Jesus honestly telling us that planning was a bad thing? I don’t think so. I believe the emphasis was suppose to be on appreciating the present is all we can truly count on for sure. That means on a spiritual level not being consumed with only the things of this life since we can only own them for a short period compared to reality.

A few months ago I had an occasion to spend time with a cousin who suffers from diabetes as I do. In my case, I have tried to deal with it as I felt the Lord wanted. My focused isn’t so much about health, even though I exercise and follow a strict diet. For me it is about obedience. I do those things because I honestly feel it is what God placed upon my heart to do in obedience to him. My reward if you want to call it that is simply the satisfaction of having done what I think he asked me to do.

I do think in terms of any health benefits in this life as such. Personally I don’t expect such things will sustain my life to any degree. Instead it for me is an act of faith. Doing it for no other reason than to be faithful. And it isn’t something that will be of importance in eternity. So I don’t see it as something to worship or regard beyond another duty of my life. For I know that God can easily take away my breath by so many means and I am also not immortal either. Thus it is yet another path of life I have to trod on my journey to eternity and that is enough for me.

With my cousin, he deals with his diabetes from what he said primarily for health reasons. He wants to live a long life and not have to reach his golden years with major health problems. His hope by his confession was to be able to have a few “good” years of living after he turned seventy.

The question that dogged my mind was “And then what?” Basically, even if you do live a few extra years, but in no way regard eternity or God in the process how will that benefit you after the grave? I didn’t get the impression he was too concern with answering that part of the question, which I don’t think is very surprising.

Tomorrow is a dream. It can be a fantasy or nightmare. That is dependent on what we choose to think. However, along the process of thinking about tomorrow can we answer the question, am I prepared to face God tonight if there is no tomorrow? The honest answer is probably no. Hopefully we shall pause in our haste and reflect on the one tomorrow in eternity that will some day come for everyone.