Daily Devotional For Saturday, April 12, 2025

Yeah! Your weekend is here. I imagine for some of you, you have waited for this day to get here. There is nothing wrong with that but have you ever considered how much of our time and lives is consumed with waiting for something in the future to come? Look at these examples below:

1. When we are a child, we are waiting for the day to come when we are finally a teen. Yeah. No more acting like a child, right? Yet, when adolescence comes acne, sexual hormones, and even some rebellion comes along with that. We think all of our teen friends and us know more than our parents. Yeah, right! 
2. As a teen, we can’t wait to become 16 so we can drive on our own. Sounds thrilling doesn’t it? And if we have younger siblings, we become the taxi for them. We also become the errand child to the grocery store. We love to drive on our own until we get that first speeding ticket or have that first wreck due to driving irresponsibly. 
3. After 16, we live to graduate from high school and go off on our own. What a mile marker this is. Finally, we’re 18 and an adult. We can either go fulfill another long-awaited future dream of either college, the military or work. At 18, the law looks at you differently than when you were 8 or 15. These rites of passages bring more responsibility and accountability. You do not necessarily realize that at the time, until you cross the line.
4. And if you choose college or the military, you dream of graduating from college, getting that degree, and finding a job. If you go the military route, you live to get out and find a job or go to college. 
5. And then after this, you may start looking for that future spouse through dating. So, you live to get married and finally that day comes. You’re married. You’re living with someone in a godly and biblical relationship. Now your freedom changes because you can’t just come and go when you want.
6. And guess what happens next – you start talking about having a future family. Kids are great and according to Scripture a “gift from the Lord.” They require patience, money, time, guidance, discipline and, etc. Then you start dreaming all these all over again through your children.
7. As you’re working and building a career, you live for the day you can retire and rest from all your efforts. At this point, you’re closer to death than ever before, but this is what you wanted overall, right? A few last years to relish and enjoy?

Maybe all of us should heed the warning in this poem by Henry Twells:

“When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.

When as a youth I dreamed and talked, time walked.

When I became a full grown man, time ran.

And later, as I older grew, time flew.

Soon I shall find while travelling on, time gone.”

(Source: Henry Twells)

My point is as we are living to achieve dreams in the future, we often fail to enjoy living in the present. God says to us this in Psalm 118:24, “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (NASB). “This day” means today – not tomorrow, not next week, not next year – today. If today is the day the Lord has made, how can we fully live in it if our eyes and dreams are always in the future? We can’t. 

Jesus said this in Matthew 6:34, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (NASB). If this applies to worry, it certainly should apply to living in the future and not living in the present. Worry is a sin because it means we do not trust God. This is what pagans and the lost due according to Jesus in Matthew 6:32, “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (NASB). Gentiles (i.e., the lost and pagans) seek dreams in the future without trusting God. That is where their mindsets are. So, I close with another poem about living in “today” for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by Benjamin Mays:

“I have only just a minute,

Only sixty seconds in it,

Forced upon me—can’t refuse it.

Didn’t seek it, didn’t choose it,

But it’s up to me to use it,

I must suffer if I lose it,

Give account if I abuse it,

Just a tiny little minute—

But eternity is in it.”

(Source: Benjamin Mays)

Assignment: Today, tomorrow and the next day, live fully each day like a sponge soaking up everything. Through 40 years of sermons, let me offer you some tips on how to do this: (1) Trust God and stop worrying. (2) Remove unneeded possessions. Greed is a sin and most of us have more possessions than we can count and keep up with in life. It robs us of time we cannot afford to give up. (3) No matter how your day is going, SMILE. Smile at others, even those who are harsh or sarcastic to you. (4) Get outside and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of God’s creation through nature. (5) Forgive past hurts.  Holding a grudge is a sin. It makes you bitter. Refusing to forgive is like drinking poison and hoping the person who hurt you dies. We are commanded in Scripture to do this. You’re only making yourself and those around you miserable. (6) Don’t dwell on past accomplishments. Ask the Lord to give you new ones for today. (7) Get help for any addictions. 

Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 27:1, "Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to live today, in this moment right now for You. I know it is okay to have dreams and hopes, but I do not want to miss the right now nor what You have planned. Help me to truly live each second of life that You give me, to the fullest. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly