“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).
OUR ATTITUDE ABOUT TOMORROW IS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE OUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH. If we choose to think rightly about it, we will find that it helps us on our way to heaven. But if we think wrongly about it, we will be greatly hindered.
One of the problems we have concerning the future is “boasting” about it, and our text in Proverbs warns us not to do that. When we say there is a certain thing we are going to do, we must not attribute more power to ourselves than we actually have. When the time comes, we may not be able to bring to pass what we have proposed. So we must not be like the quack in a traveling medicine show, making claims for our “elixir” that promise more than it has the power to deliver.
Few things in this world are as important as “reaching forward,” but we need to understand what’s involved in this concept from a scriptural standpoint. While there may be some value in being “forward-oriented” in general (that is, looking more to the future than to the past), the future the Christian is always looking forward to is heaven. So when I speak of “reaching forward,” I’m not talking about striving for any particular goal in this life; I’m talking about striving for eternity in the presence of God. We can be very definite about that goal, but with any goal between now and then, we must be somewhat tentative. We may want to do certain things tomorrow. We may even plan to do them. But we must not “boast” about them. In other words, we must not be too sure they will come to pass, since the Lord may have other plans.
With respect to tomorrow, I would recommend learning to be content with whatever it turns out to be. If tomorrow takes us places that weren’t on our itinerary, well, that’s what lends a sense of excitement and adventure to the life of faith. Come what may, there is one thing that is certain: there won’t come a tomorrow that God can’t use for our good. And that, really, is all we need to know.
Lord, give me faith to leave it all to thee!
The future is thy gift;
I would not lift
The veil thy love has hung ‘twixt it and me.
(John Oxenham)
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
