Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Importance of the Present
People get preoccupied with either the past, “how great things were in the good old days.” Or they get distracted by the future, “what life could be like if only this or that happens.” Now there is nothing wrong with a little nostalgia nor setting goals to achieve in the future. But obsessions with either the past or the future can be problematic.
“[God] therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time, which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which [God] has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them. He would therefore have them continually concerned either with eternity or with the Present--either meditating on their eternal union with, or separation from, Himself, or else obeying the present voice of conscience, bearing the present cross, receiving the present grace, giving thanks for the present pleasure.” -C.S. Lewis
Like it says in Isaiah 43: 18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. (Isaiah 43:18) In the New Year I encourage you to be aware of the moments you have in the present, because “for the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.” In Christ we have a fresh start each day of the new year. May we each be made more aware of the blessings of living for Christ in the “present” each day.
In Christ’s Peace,
Pastor Ryan Honeycutt
