What The Future Holds

On Sunday our posts are more related to faith.

“This will happen and that will not happen.”

On and on they went about the future.

Finally, I stopped them mid sentence and asked, “You are very smart.  But you wanna know what you don’t know?”

They stopped and said, “What is it that I don’t know?”

“You do not know what will happen beyond this present moment.  You do not know what the future holds.”

None of us do.

You can predict, prognosticate and pronounce what you believe your future holds.

But you know what?

You don’t know.

You don’t.

If you went back and were able to interview yourself twenty years ago and said, “Tell me about your life twenty years from now.”, your present reality would be so different than what you had envisioned.

We plan for what we can not predict.

And we predict that for which we cannot plan.

You can not plan with any certainty something that is not certain at all.

The future.

I read once that if one were able to determine the exact date of their death, what percentage of people would wish to know?

Only 4%.

96% of the people of those asked wanted to be left in the dark regarding their future.

Given that outcome, how do we then plan?

Live in the moment, as it has often been said.

Since your next breath is not guaranteed, you should be appreciative for the one you are breathing now.

Since your next step is not assured, you should be grateful for the steps you are taking now.

Since you can not determine when you will see that loved one, that friend, next, if at all, then express to them now, what you were planning on expressing to them in the future.

The future is not scary, nor should it be feared.

Keep the following verses in mind as you plan for the uncertainty of life.

“You will be safe from slander; no need to fear the future.”  Job 5:21

“But the good man—what a different story! For the good man—the blameless, the upright, the man of peace—he has a wonderful future ahead of him.   For him there is a happy ending.”  Psalm 37:37

“Don’t envy evil men but continue to reverence the Lord all the time, for surely you have a wonderful future ahead of you.”  Proverbs 23:17-18

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  Jeremiah 29:11

So, should we even look beyond this moment?

Absolutely, because it is the Hope we have, in Christ, that holds our future.

It is this Hope that gives us certainty and confidence moving forward.

It is this Hope that allows us to look beyond our present circumstances which may seem totally hopeless at this present moment.

It is this Hope that we hold to, cling to and run to.

Historians quote Karl Marx as having said, “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”.

I would agree with that statement.

Some do use religion as an excuse for weakness.

As a crutch for their personal decisions.

Fortunately, the Hope that is found in Christ, is not intended for the weak, except in the fact, that through the acknowledgement of our own weakness, we are made strong, through the acknowledgement of the strength that we find in Christ.

We do have a future and it is bright.

It is filled with promises of goodness.

John Newton wrote, what is arguably the most well known hymn of all time, Amazing Grace.

My favorite verse is this:

“The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.”  John Newton

There is nothing about the future that we should fear.

Nothing.