Living in the Present
Nov 18, 2014 2565
The actress Mary McDonnell has said, “We have to get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment.” There’s a lot of wisdom in that.
Too many people live in the past – a past of disappointment and broken dreams.
Too many people live in the future – a future of fantasy and illusionary happiness.
And those people who appear to live in the present too often seem to find no real beauty or joy in it.
It is our nature to dwell on the hurts of the past. And it is the nature of popular culture to push us towards a fantasy future that is entirely the creation of the media. In that fantasy future we lose our own identity, and happiness is never found.
And to try to just exist in the present with no notion of the goodness of the past or the goodness of the future is simply too bleak to contemplate.
We can only “get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment” when we are able to find goodness in the past and goodness in the future.
It is because of the good thing that God has done in the past through Christ at Calvary, that a good future is assured for all who love Him. For that reason, because of the cross, every hour, every minute, every second, of every day can be pregnant with wonderful opportunity, meaningful purpose, and even joy.
When you discover Jesus, you discover life – not life in the past, not life in the future, but life right now.
When you are “in Christ” this present moment is not simply a foretaste of immortality, but part of the abundant life – and even the eternal life – that Jesus has given to his children. As Jesus said,
whoever lives by believing in me will never die – John 11:26a.
And that is the ultimate answer to how we “get back to the beauty of just being alive in this present moment.”
Do you believe this? – John 11:26b.
Eliezer Gonzalez
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