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What do you think of when you think about the future?
Do you have a bright view of the future? Is it a gloomy view?
Whether you realize it or not, how you see the future affects how you live today.
Most of the time, we’re not really aware of our attitude toward the future. We’re busy with our day to day living.
We don’t live every day consciously thinking about the future. But once in a while, it’s important to reflect on our beliefs and attitudes about the future, because they shape how you live today.
Today’s passage is written by Paul. When you read all of his letters, you see how much he was concerned with day to day matters.
All of his letters are written to address real, concrete issues his communities faced at that time. Most of his content deals with the pressing issues of that day.
But once in a while, you get a glimpse of his deeper, underlying beliefs that drove his everyday concerns.
Today’s passage is one of those glimpses. You see how he saw the future.
His core belief about the future drove his everyday thoughts and actions. That core belief was this:
God controls the future. God is in charge.
Not only that, God’s future is close at hand.
Salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone; the day is near. (Romans 13:11-12)
God is coming. God is closer to you now than when you first became a believer. The future that God controls is coming.
That belief drove his thoughts and actions. He lived with an urgency rooted in that belief. He lived everyday with the belief that God controls this future and that it was close.
But instead of living by this core belief, Paul saw many people living mindlessly. Today’s passage is an urgent appeal to wake up.
He says this:
Let us walk decently as in the day (being awake, not asleep), not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy (life of being asleep). (Romans 13:13)
He uses the examples of reveling and drunkenness, illicit sex and licentiousness, quarreling and jealousy as examples of a life that is asleep.
What does he mean?
Living in reveling and drunkenness, engaging in illicit sex and licentiousness – these are actions of living only for now.
Indulge in the pleasures of now. There is no thought about tomorrow. Any consequences of my actions today don’t matter.
That is a life of being asleep.
Being asleep is letting life pass you by. Whatever the future brings, it will happen. I only focus on today.
It’s easy to allow today’s worries to take up all of our thoughts and time. The demands of your job. Studying in school. Taking care of your kids. Planning the next event or party.
There is enough on the plate for that day. But without realizing it, one day just bleeds into the next. You can be so busy and active but still be asleep through life.
Underneath a life of being asleep, what is really going on?
I see a fear of the future. I see an avoidance of the future.
For some, there is no future. I might as well just do whatever I want right now, because there’s no future. Or at least no future worth living for.
Just have fun today. Whatever happens tomorrow will happen.
For some, the future is cloudy and murky. There is a lot of uncertainty. A heaviness and weight. It’s too much to bear, so you seek an escape from it.
One year I worked at a small corporate law firm. It was the most difficult year of my life. I was chained at my desk from 8am to 8pm everyday, Monday to Friday.
I didn’t know if there would be any other future for me. The future was murky. It wasn’t bright.
I did my best to bear through it. I would pray on the streetcar rides to work. I would sometimes go to a downtown church chapel at lunch to pour out my soul to God.
But once the weekend hit, I would seek an escape. I wanted to forget about my troubles. The reveling and drunkenness that Paul describes is a good way to describe my weekends that year.
For others, the future depends entirely on what I do.
It is what I have to control. The career I build today. The money I make today. It’s all up to me.
For those who live that way, their whole life becomes centred on them. What they do. Working hard. Getting the rest and pleasure to recharge.
It is all about them. There is no room for others. No room for God’s will.
They miss out on so much in life because they are so focused on controlling and building up their future.
Paul says it’s time to wake up:
You know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. (Romans 13:11)
The future that God controls is coming. Wake up and get ready for it! Don’t let it just pass you by.
Who controls the future?
That is the core question for your life.
That is what so many people today are unsure of.
Does AI control the future? Is it your money? Your health? Is it the economy? Your job? Powerful nations and companies?
There are indeed so many uncertainties when we think about the future. It can be too much. That’s why a lot of people avoid thinking about the future.
But Christians do not shy away from it. We don’t have our heads in the sand. We know what’s going on in the world.
But we hold onto a clear, firm belief: the future belongs to God.
God controls the future. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the future.
In the end, God will make all things right
Do you believe that?
I do. If you do, then that belief should shape how you live today.
Each day is a gift. Each day is one day closer to God’s future becoming a reality.
Don’t be asleep and let life just pass you by.
Live today as if the future that God controls has arrived. Live as if it’s coming and get yourself ready for it.
How you live today matters. How you live today is connected with the future. How you see the future affects how you live today.
Paul gives the example of quarreling and jealousy.
When people get together, something always comes up. There’s always something wrong with the other person.
Human relationships are the most difficult thing. Conflict, quarreling, jealousy – these are all inevitable things that will arise.
If tomorrow doesn’t matter, the easiest thing to do is to succumb to quarreling and jealousy. To write the other person off. To let your raw feelings control the situation. Because with no future, a future relationship with that person doesn’t matter.
But if tomorrow matters, if my relationship with that person tomorrow matters, I will do things differently today.
I will be more patient today. I will hold my tongue today. I will think about what I say and do before I act.
God’s future is coming.
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the future. If Jesus is the Lord of the future, he is the Lord of today.
Paul says to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make Jesus the Lord of today.
Each day, make Jesus the Lord.
There’s a Sunday school song I learned when I was a child:
This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made
I will rejoice, I will rejoice
And be glad in it, and be glad in it
This is the day that the Lord has made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
This is the day, this is the day
That the Lord has made
Everyday, your prayer should be:
Thank you for this day, Lord. Today belongs to you. Be my Lord. Make me more like you. Let me walk with you.
Trust the future to God. Make him the Lord of today. Do that every day, and you will be ready for the future that God brings. That is a life of being awake.
You don’t know what challenges, trials and difficulties will come your way. They are a part of life. But if you live each day with faith, you will be ready for anything.
Whatever comes will be part of God’s future. You will stand firm and boldly in that conviction.
Don’t let life just pass you by.
Give your future to God. Give each day to God. God will be with you.
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