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Learning to live in the now-doing what is right
Please read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. "To every thing there is a season"-v. 1. We spend so much time trying to live in the past, yesterday or living in the future, tomorrow. However, all of our life is lived in the present, today. Yet, we spend so much time trying to live in a framework that does not exist. We are always decrying the present and talking about our wonderful past or future-for you and me we are "present only." Do you live by the wisdom of the Hebrews or the Greeks? The Wisdom of the Hebrews is based on an accepted belief in God; that is, it does not try to find out whether or not God exists-all its beliefs are based on God; and all its mental energy is bent on practical living. The Wisdom of the Greeks which is the wisdom of our day is speculative, that is, it is concerned with the origin of things, with the riddle of the universe, etc., and does not concentrate on practical living. Are you a Hebrew or a Greek? The Wisdom of the Greeks tell us how things should be-there ought to be no sin, no war, no devil, no sickness, no injustice-but these things are. The Wisdom of the Hebrews deals with things as they actual are in our world. The World's Opinion: man is in the process of evolution-a magnificent promise of what he is going to be. God's Opinion: reveals that the basis of things is tragic and that the only way out is by redemption-man is a magnificent ruin of what he was created to be. We are confusing: God's will and God's order. God's order is no sin, no sickness, no devil, and no war. God's will-God's permissive will is things as they are at the moment. People are trying to recreate God's order instead of learning to live in the "now." Solomon sums up the whole thing as follows: (1) if you try to find enjoyment in the order of things you will end in vexation and disaster; (2) if you try to find enjoyment in knowledge you only increase your capacity for sorrow, agony, and distress; (3) the only way to find relief and the right interpretation of things as they are is by basing your faith in God and by remembering that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever. We all are trying to live in one or the other of these three time frames: Faith in God is the right choice. A dispensation is the ordering of events under divine authority. There are certain dispensational things for which God is responsible, that is, birth and death. Inside the limits of birth and death-man has the liberty to produce what he likes. Our business here is to live a godly life in the present order of things and not to push beyond the boundaries God has placed as limits. Within the limits of birth and death-I can do as I like-but I cannot make myself unborn-neither can I escape death-those two limits are there. I have nothing to do with placing the limits but within them I can produce what my disposition chooses. I can have a distressful time or a joyful time depending on what I do in between the "limits" called the "now." There is always a point where I have the power to choose. I have no power to choose my "cage" (my circumstances) but within the "cage" (my set of circumstances) I have the power to choose which perch I will sit on! Are you trying to live in the past or the future? You can only live in the "now." There is a tendency in all of us to mourn over something, to say that the past was a great deal better than the present or that the future will be better-the worst time we ever lived is the present but we forget that we never lived in any other time. What does God want from us? To live "now"-today-in relationship with Him in the actual condition of things as they are-not what we wish they were or hope they would be. To have faith in God and maintain that faith as we are in the world and within the circumstances and conditions in which we are set at the moment. When man dies he can take nothing he has done or made in his lifetime with him-the only thing he can take with him is what He is.
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