Living in the Present

You know I read something interesting today by C.S. Lewis in his book The Screwtape Letters. It said that one of our greatest vices is being stuck in a time which is not in reality. Many people brood over a troublesome past or can’t get past regrets or failures which can never be changed. Others are set on the future filled with anxieties and worries about things that haven’t happened yet. The book says that both of these mindsets are not solid. The best thing we can do is live in the present. 

 Reality and eternity are rooted in the present. Freedom of choice and seeing things as they occur are the closest we are to reality. The past is unlike reality in that it is unchangeable. What’s done is done. The least like reality and eternity is the future. These things haven’t even happened and are simply imagined. It is a complete fabrication of the mind and therefore the least real. The past at least existed.

As the book says the enemy would keep us in either the regretful past or worried over the imaginary future. It is the least connected to God we could be. Instead we should try to live our lives in the present.  It is where God can use us and affect our lives. It is where all events occur. It is the small daily living which creates us. We need to focus on daily grace and daily provision. It is our daily actions and our daily salvation which gives us true life in Christ. 

We can forget about all our past sins with our present forgiveness in Christ. We can rest in the provision of the future through the present promises of Christ. So in everything we do let us live in the present. Let us live in the actions of right now and let us learn just to focus those actions on the Lord.