Living In The Moment

To live in the moment is not very easy to do. Things are constantly changing and with so many things demanding our time and attention, it seems there is always something immediate to think or worry about.  Sometimes it is like trying to fill twelve holes with ten fingers. Most people who have tried it would agree that doing so can be very stressful and it doesn't work. Medical science tells us that stress is harmful to our overall well-being. Among its symptoms are headaches, backaches, neck pain, depletion of energy, aggravation of peptic ulcers, and memory disturbances, to name a few. Definitely, not good!

The reality is that we do have to live in the moment and while we cannot always control what happens in the moment, the degree to which we allow things to impact us is what we can control. One way to do this when we're challenged by the events of the moment is to look at the big picture. This was the principle Jesus applied when He told the disciples, "Therefore I tell you, 'stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?'" (Matthew 6:25-26, AMP).  In other words, as Bible scholar Adam Clarke observes, "Can He who gave us our body, and breathed into it the breath of life, before we could ask them from Him, refuse us that which is necessary to preserve both, and when we ask it in humble confidence?" I would suggest that such an approach can be applied to any area of our lives. No matter what we are faced with, it fades into insignificance in the light of God's inexhaustible provision.

Despite knowing that fact, most of us are like the apostle Peter. When Jesus challenged him, in the middle of a storm on the Sea of Galilee, to step out of the boat, Matthew tells us, "But when he saw [the effects of] the wind, he was frightened, and he began to sink, and he cried out, 'Lord, save me!'" (14:30). He was overwhelmed by the moment, but in the midst of his anxiety and despair "immediately Jesus extended His hand and caught him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'" (v.31).  It is important to note that Jesus did not reprimand him for the anxiety he felt; He reprimanded him for his lack of faith in the moment and in allowing the anxiety he felt to overwhelm him.

It takes faith in God to live in the moment because to survive the moments we have to keep our eyes on the big picture. Just because we are confused doesn't mean God is confused, or that He doesn't know what to do.  When faced with confusing situations and their feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and fear, it helps to remember that God is still in control; that if His eyes are on the sparrows we can rest assured that He also watches over us.  Not only that but He has a vested interest in us and gets no glory out of our failing.  Since He created the universe out of nothing, He is more than capable of helping us handle our moments.  Faith, in your challenging moments, how much of it do you use? How much of the big picture do you see?

"Give Us a King..."

The faithfulness of God towards the children of Israel is recorded all over the Old Testament. While the relationship between God and the people were often conflicted, it was this unique relationship that differentiated the Israelites from the other nations around them. When God instructed Moses to go to Pharaoh with the message to free the then slaves, He told him, "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 'I am the LORD . . . I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians'" (Exodus 6:7-8, KJV).  Later when God threatened to abandon them because of their persistent rebellion and disobedience, we see Moses reminding God of this relationship, "And he [Moses] said unto Him, 'If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth'" (Exodus 33:15-16).  

The basic terms of the relationship were that the LORD would be their God and King, and they would obey Him and those He put in place to govern them. They were also to make Him known to the nations around them.  However, there came a time when the people wanted a change in rulers. According to the narrative, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.' But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto the LORD" (1 Samuel 8:5-6).  However, what they were asking was not that simple. This was not about replacing Samuel and his sons for "the LORD said unto Samuel, 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee'" (​vv​. 7, 8). In other words, since their deliverance out of Egypt they had shown nothing but ingratitude and rebellion against God and against His servant, and what they asked for was a continuation of their downward spiral.

The LORD told Samuel the kind of king they would get and Samuel told the people (vv. 10-17) before concluding, "And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day" (v. 18).  However, the narrative tells us, "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, 'Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles'" (vv. 19-20). They did not care about the consequences as long as they were like everybody else.  

Christians today face a similar temptation.  The uniqueness of our relationship with Christ means we are not and cannot be like everybody else.  The moment we decide that is what we want is to lose sight of what we are called to be - light of the world and salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16).  Jesus told His disciples, "If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you" (John 15:19, MSG). Paul reminds us that "the culture around you [is] always dragging you down to its level of immaturity" and to that end, "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out" (Romans 12:2, MSG). Let us resolve to be who God has called us to be even though it means we look​, ​act​, and speak​ differently than everybody else.  To desire otherwise is very dangerous.  Just ask the people of Israel.

Be Not Weary in Well Doing

If someone had provided you with a detailed list of what it meant to be a Christian, would you have "signed" up? Sure the benefits are outstanding, but what is required of us is often very challenging.  Biblical injunctions to love others as we love ourselves, turn the other cheek, not render evil for evil but repay evil with good, forgive as Christ forgave us, be patient with others, "bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you," to name a few, are not always easy to apply.  Yet it is our Christian duty to persist in cultivating these behaviours even when our experiences are the opposite.

These thoughts came to mind as I reflected on Paul's words as recorded in Galatians 6:9-10, Amplified: "Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in.  So then, while we [as individual believers] have the opportunity, let us do good to all people [not only being helpful, but also doing that which promotes their spiritual well-being], and especially [be a blessing] to those of the household of faith (born-again believers)."  Here Paul, writing under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, readily acknowledges that as we carry out our Christian duty we can become discouraged in doing good, especially to others.  To keep on loving when that love is not returned or is abused, to keep respecting when one is being disrespected, to respond with patience and kindness when confronted with impatience and rudeness, to continue to show regard and care when treated with disregard and indifference, to be relevant to others who make us feel irrelevant; all of these behaviours and more can become wearisome.  The lack of positive and affirming responses to our efforts from others can take a toll on our psyche and thus affect us physically, psychologically, and ultimately spiritually.

It is relatively easy for some of us to get to that place where consistently living out the practical side of the Christian life feels like a burden.  Not that we want to be there, but the human side of us that is wired for reciprocity, the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit, desires that exchange.  We are tired of things being one-sided. This often unmet desire for reciprocity and how we respond to it is one of the applications of Paul's admonition -  "Let us not grow weary or become discouraged in doing good." In other words, keep on doing good even when that good goes unacknowledged, unappreciated, and you are the only one doing it.  Easier said than done, I know, but when we avail ourselves of His strength and grace it can be done.

Why should we even bother? First, Jesus tells us, “that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45).  Second, the apostle tells us, "for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in."  For the latter to happen it means God has to be taking notice and that He is keeping good records.  It means that the things we persist in doing despite the responses and attitudes of others do count for something.  What we regard as unfair will be reconciled in our favour at some point. At the proper time we will reap, if we do not give in.  Do you trust God and His promise enough to keep going?