Isaiah 40:6-7 “All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the Lord blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.”
It is second nature for people to live for the day. I remember that my employer would give us a notepad with the words “Things to do today” at the top, so we could plan our entire day out and check off the items one-by-one as they were completed. If something else came up, I’d simply add it to the bottom of the list. It was a productivity tool that was designed to keep us focused on priorities, goal-oriented and not forget something in a busy day. At the end of the workday, any unfinished items on the list would be put on the top of tomorrow’s list. Did you have a “Things to do today” list also? It is natural to plan out your day, or your week. We live in a busy world that is full of distractions and temptations that vie for our attention and time. Life is short and time is of the essence.
James 4:14 “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
But, busyness tends to make us short-sighted and drives us to secular existentialism. The word “secular” comes from the Latin word “secularis” meaning pertaining to the present world, or to things not spiritual or holy; relating to things not immediately or primarily respecting the soul, but the body; worldly. The secular concerns of life respect making provision for the support of life, the preservation of health, the temporal prosperity of self; “Living the life” by "living in the world”. Existentialism is relating to, affirming, and grounded in existence or the experience of existence: having being in time and space, therefore “living in the moment”. Secular existentialism says, that yesterday is dead and gone and tomorrow is out of sight, so eat, drink and be merry. Egocentric hedonism (self-centered living for pleasure) is “vanity faire” (man's sinful attachment to worldly things.
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Though our Creator did create humans live and exist in the world, but did not design or make us to be “of the word”; worldly. We are certainly supposed to make provision for support of life, but that is not the purpose of the life that God intended; just the means to the way. We are going to exist daily, but we God’s people serve the Lord, advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and use the spiritual gifts given to each of us help our neighbor in this life. God put us on this earth, in this time and place, for a divine reason. The Christian is “livin’ the life”, but it is the righteous life that God planned; a godly prosperous life of kingdom living, to give you hope and a future in the time that we have.
In Christ, Brian
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