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What do people value the most?
A recent Reuters poll says that American people value “time” the most. Then “career”, “success”, and “money” come in as close seconds.
I think that is so true.
What good is money when you have no time to spend it? What good is all the power and success when no time is left for you.
It is like a parable of a rich fool that our Lord Jesus taught us.
Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:16-21)
He had all the riches but he didn’t have time. What’s the use?
Time is the most valuable, the most important, and the most practical.
So, appreciate your time. Cherish it. Don’t waste it away.
It is free but priceless. Once you have lost it you can never get it back.
There are different ways of thinking of time. Different aspects of time.
The Past, the Present, and the Future. Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.
Of these three, I think the future is the most important.
If there is no future, our past and present become meaningless.
You reflect on your past to make a better future. You work hard today so that you can have a good tomorrow.
So your past and your present should ultimately work for your future. Because your future is the most important.
The interesting thing is: The future is not here yet but it is the most important.
In our hands, we don’t have the future yet, but it is what determines the quality of your life. When you have no future, you will be devastated.
So life is very interesting and strange in that way.
What we don’t have, what we don’t see, what has not happened yet, – that controls and determines the quality of our life.
So don’t tell me that I can accept only thing that I can see, I can touch, and I can feel. You are controlled by what is not here yet. Your future.
The future – It is interesting. People have different attitudes about their future.
I don’t think many people are comfortable with their future.
Is your future your friend or your enemy? Do you love to think about your future or you try to avoid your future as much as possible?
The future can be scary because it is unknown. It is uncertain.
These days, the uncertainty of our future has become very real. Because of US policy, the whole world is wondering what their future may be. Uncertain, unknown, unpredictable.
The future is not just uncertain and unknown – It is uncontrollable.
The future is not in your control. You don’t know what tomorrow holds for you.
In Myanmar, close to 3,000 people died because of earthquake. Nobody knew that it was coming.
Recently in LA, and also in Korea, so many people lost their homes because of fire. Nobody expected that.
The future just comes without warning.
What are human responses to the very nature of the future?
Worries and anxieties. That is what a lot of people have about the future.
University students – What if I can’t get into the program I want. People who are working, especially in the auto industry – What if I get laid off because of this new tariff. Old people – What if I get sick, who will take care of me?
Worries and Anxieties – A very common attitude towards their future.
Another human response is – You become helpless and hopeless.
You can do nothing about your future. So, just passively receive your future. Que sera sera – whatever will be, will be. The future is not ours to see.
But Paul showed a different attitude towards the future today.
but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead… (Philippians 3:13)
He didn’t worry about his future. He didn’t just passively take whatever future that came to him.
He strained forward to what lied ahead. He put away his past. He didn’t dwell on it.
Our past can be a good teacher for us. But at the same time, our past can haunt us. Our past can drag us down.
Not just your painful past but even your glorious past can drag you down. What good is your glorious moment in the past? It’s gone. No use.
You have to cut it off.
St. Paul considered his past as rubbish. Rubbish is a very toned down translation.
The Greek word Paul used,
skubalon – means “dung,” “excrement,” or “refuse”.
He cut it off.
Forgetting what lies behind me, I will strain forward to what lies ahead.
A very future oriented mentality. How could he have this very strong future-oriented mentality?
Because he saw what most of us don’t see.
He clearly saw what was ahead of him. He clearly saw the end. He was able to see the goal.
Verse 14.
I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
What do you see in your future? Do you see only dark, gloomy, and ominous clouds?
In the same letter St. Paul said this.
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
What does he see in his future?
The good work that God began will be completed. The good work God began in you will be completed.
He saw what was in his future with the eyes of faith.
He saw the power that moved and propelled him into the future.
He did not just wait passively for the future to come to him. He entered into the future with boldness.
There was power within him and this power propelled him into the future.
His attitude towards future is very different from most common attitudes of people: like worries and anxieties, or hopeless submission.
He knew that his future was not in his hands.
BUT
He believed that his future was in God’s hands.
He believed that death is not the final station of his train.
My friends, death is not the final station of your train. Don’t get off there.
St. Paul believed that the resurrection is his final station.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:10, 11)
The power of the resurrection was what propelled him to take on his future.
The resurrection was what he saw in his future. Even suffering could not stop that future. Death could not stop that future.
If somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:11)
What do you see in your future?
Believe in your future.
When faith dances with the future, it becomes hope. Live with hope. Believe in your future.
At the end of your journey, there is the resurrection. See that. And boldly take the challenges that come to you. And build your beautiful future.
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