At the moment | I’m in today

We often find our thoughts dwel­ling on yes­ter­day or tomor­row, and in doing so we miss out on today. Jesus invi­tes us to let go of the past, to recei­ve for­gi­ve­ness, and to place tomor­row trus­tingly in God’s hands. Today is the day that God has given us. As Chris­ti­ans, it is not just a mat­ter of living in the moment, but of living out of the pre­sence of Jesus and his grace. Yes­ter­day may be behind me. Tomor­row may be in God’s hands. Today, Jesus is here.

I tur­ned 60 a few months ago. And when you turn 60, you rea­li­se that peo­p­le react to it in all sorts of dif­fe­rent ways. Almost ever­yo­ne says: «I don’t feel 60 at all!» Others start tal­king quite quick­ly about all the things they’ll do once they’re reti­red. Both are inte­res­t­ing. One looks back: what was I like in the past? The other looks ahead: how much lon­ger do I have? What comes next? And in bet­ween lies what we tend to over­look: today.

Actual­ly, that’s typi­cal of us humans. Our thoughts often take us eit­her into the past or into the future. We won­der what might have been. Or we ask our­sel­ves what lies ahead.

That is why the­re is so much talk of mindful­ness the­se days. The­re are exer­ci­s­es, cour­ses and semi­nars desi­gned to help us beco­me more awa­re of what is hap­pe­ning right now. And I belie­ve the­re is some­thing valuable in that. Becau­se the ques­ti­on is: am I real­ly pre­sent whe­re I am right now? Not just phy­si­cal­ly. But also with my thoughts. With my heart. With my life. And as Chris­ti­ans, the­re is some­thing else that is cru­cial: it is not just about fin­ding our place in the pre­sent. It is about encoun­tering Jesus in the pre­sent. And that is pre­cis­e­ly whe­re the Holy Spi­rit helps us. He leads us into God’s pre­sence. He draws our gaze away from what has been and from what is yet to come, and makes us awa­re of Jesus, who is here today.

Jesus is not mere­ly the Lord of our past. Nor is He sim­ply the Lord of our future. He is here today.

Let yesterday be behind me

We can­not live in the pre­sent if we are con­stant­ly dwel­ling on the past. Of cour­se, the past is part of who we are. Our histo­ry has shaped us. The­re are expe­ri­en­ces for which we are gra­teful. Decis­i­ons we reg­ret. Wounds that still hurt. Things we would like to undo. But the­re is one thing we can­not do: reli­ve yesterday.

If we do not want our past to deter­mi­ne our future, we must bring the past to Jesus. We may con­fess our guilt and recei­ve for­gi­ve­ness. Whe­re others have wron­ged us, we may learn to for­gi­ve. We may allow Jesus to heal our wounds. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly when deal­ing with trau­ma­tic expe­ri­en­ces, it can be hel­pful to walk this path with pas­to­ral sup­port. Not to undo the past, but so that it no lon­ger dic­ta­tes our pre­sent and future.

Paul wri­tes: «But one thing I will say: I for­get what is behind me and press on towards what lies ahead» (Phil­ip­pians 3:13 LUT).

Paul does not mean: For­get your past. Sup­press your guilt. Pre­tend not­hing ever hap­pen­ed. He says: Let yes­ter­day take its rightful place – but do not let it dic­ta­te your place. Yes­ter­day can remain part of the past.

And this is pre­cis­e­ly whe­re the power of the Gos­pel lies: my past is not the final word on my life. Jesus is. I do not have to ato­ne for my sins mys­elf, ban­da­ge my own wounds, or undo my own mista­kes. I can bring them to Jesus and live out of his for­gi­ve­ness and heal­ing. His grace means: I am more than what I used to be. And becau­se Jesus grants me his grace today, I no lon­ger need to dwell on the past.

Per­haps that is pre­cis­e­ly what con­sti­tu­tes an important step for someone today: to stop con­stant­ly asking what has hap­pen­ed, but ins­tead to ask God: «Lord, what do you want to do with my life today?»

Let tomorrow be in God’s hands

The other direc­tion is the future. Many peo­p­le act as though their lives were mere­ly a rehear­sal, and that once that is over, the real thing will begin. Someone once said: «Life is what hap­pens to us whilst we’re wai­ting for life to begin.»

We do not know what the future holds. And that is pre­cis­e­ly why it some­ti­mes frigh­tens us. What will beco­me of my fami­ly? What will hap­pen in my care­er? How will my health be? What lies ahead for our church? What will hap­pen in our coun­try? How will I be able to cope with wha­te­ver comes my way?

Jesus says: «The­r­e­fo­re, do not worry about tomor­row, for each day brings its own bur­dens. Today’s worries are enough for today» (Matthew 6:34 NLB). This is not a call to be irre­spon­si­ble. Jesus is not say­ing: ‘Do not make any plans. Do not think ahead. Do not take respon­si­bi­li­ty.’. He says some­thing else: You don’t have to worry today about tomor­row. Tomor­row will come. And when tomor­row comes, God will be the­re too. That is the dif­fe­rence bet­ween trust and con­trol. Con­trol says: I need to know today what tomor­row will be like. Trust says: I don’t know what tomor­row will be like. But I know who will be the­re tomor­row. That chan­ges the way I look at today. I don’t need to have all the ans­wers today. I don’t need to know today how ever­y­thing will turn out. I am allo­wed to live today.

And that is why we pray in the Lord’s Pray­er: «Give us today our dai­ly bread» (Matthew 6:11 LUT). Not: Give us bread for the next ten years. Today. Jesus’ pray­er brings us back, time and again, into God’s presence.

Today is the day God has given me

Let yes­ter­day be behind me. Let tomor­row be in God’s hands. And that is why I can live today. Today is the day God has given me.

It is not sim­ply a mat­ter of beco­ming more mindful or living more ful­ly in the moment. As Chris­ti­ans, we do not sim­ply live in the moment – we live out of the pre­sence of Jesus. Jesus is here today. Today I am able to live by the grace of Jesus. His grace is suf­fi­ci­ent for today.

And this is pre­cis­e­ly whe­re a term from the New Tes­ta­ment comes in han­dy: Kai­ros. Our lives unfold over time. The Greeks had a word for this Chro­nos: the time that pas­ses, which we mea­su­re and count – hours, days, years. But the New Tes­ta­ment uses ano­ther word as well: Kai­ros. This refers to that spe­cial moment, a gift from God. The moment when some­thing clicks. An oppor­tu­ni­ty that pres­ents itself.

Paul wri­tes: «See, then, that you walk careful­ly, not as unwi­se peo­p­le, but as wise peo­p­le; and make the most of the time, for the days are evil.» (Ephe­si­ans 5:15ff SLT).

The Greek word for «time» is here Kai­ros. So Paul isn’t sim­ply say­ing: ‘Make the most of your time.’ He says: Reco­g­ni­se what God is pla­cing at your feet today.

Chro­nos asks: How much time has pas­sed? Kai­ros asks: What’s on the agen­da now?

Kai­ros does not sim­ply mean reco­g­nis­ing the right moment. Kai­ros means being open to what God’s Spi­rit is show­ing me right now. Per­haps today the­re is someone I ought to lis­ten to. A con­ver­sa­ti­on I should no lon­ger put off. A word of encou­ra­ge­ment that someone needs. A step of obe­dience. A word of thanks I could express. Or quite sim­ply a moment when I pau­se and rea­li­se: Jesus is here.

That is Kai­ros: I rea­li­se that this moment can be more than just ano­ther moment that pas­ses. God has given me this day. And per­haps today, of all days, he is pla­cing some­thing befo­re me that I ought not to miss.

We see this too in the sto­ry of the man­na in Exodus 16. God pro­vi­des for his peo­p­le in the wil­der­ness – but not with a lar­ge sup­p­ly to last for the next for­ty years. They recei­ve their bread day by day. The man­na is a les­son in trust. God does not give them the who­le sup­p­ly for tomor­row. He invi­tes his peo­p­le to place their trust in him today. And that is pre­cis­e­ly what Jesus« pray­er is all about: ‘Give us today our dai­ly bread» (Matthew 6:11 LUT). Not: ‘Give me today ever­y­thing I will need tomor­row.’ But rather: Give me today what I need today.

That doesn’t mean we aren’t allo­wed to make plans. Of cour­se, we can make pro­vi­si­ons, plan ahead and take respon­si­bi­li­ty. But we don’t have to live tomorrow’s life today. Today is today. And Jesus is here today.

For me, that is the key dif­fe­rence bet­ween this and a purely secu­lar form of mindful­ness. It is not just about being more awa­re of what is hap­pe­ning at any given moment. It’s about being con­scious­ly awa­re that Jesus is right the­re. By His grace, I am able to live today. I can ent­rust my yes­ter­day to Him. I can lea­ve my tomor­row in His hands. And I can ask: Jesus, what does today hold?

Becau­se today is the only day I can actual­ly live. I can no lon­ger chan­ge yes­ter­day. I can­not yet live tomor­row. But today, Jesus is here. I don’t have to have ever­y­thing under con­trol today. I don’t have to know what tomor­row will bring. I am free to take the next step – by His grace, in His pre­sence. That is why I do not pray: «Jesus, show me today what tomor­row will bring.» But rather: « »Jesus, what do you want to do with my life today?» For His grace is enough for today. I am here today. Jesus is here today. And that is enough.

Possible questions for the small group

Read the Bible pas­sa­ge: Ephe­si­ans 5:15ff; Matthew 6:25–34

1. Whe­re do you find yours­elf more often: in the past or in the future? What keeps your thoughts there?
2. Is the­re any­thing from your past that you would like to ent­rust to Jesus? Whe­re might recei­ving or gran­ting for­gi­ve­ness be the next step?
3. What worry about the future is par­ti­cu­lar­ly on your mind at the moment? What would it mean to con­scious­ly place that worry in God’s hands?
4. If «Kai­ros» means «What’s on the agen­da now?» – what might God be pla­cing at your feet today? Is the­re a per­son, a con­ver­sa­ti­on, a decis­i­on or a step of faith?
5. What might it mean for you, in prac­ti­cal terms, to live «by the grace of Jesus» this week? What would you the­r­e­fo­re like to do dif­fer­ent­ly or con­scious­ly practise?