Day 3: The Future … Perfected

Jonathan Lewis

Do you ever have something on your to-do list and think to yourself, “I’ll get to that tomorrow,” but when tomorrow comes, you don’t have time, so you tell yourself again, “tomorrow is the day for that”? I’m sure that happens to all of us, but this definitely happens to me quite frequently. And even though, at the time, I fully intend to do that tomorrow, I still often let something get in the way.

In the story we read about in the Day 1 devotional, Joshua told the people to consecrate themselves, “for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5). The implication here is that consecration today leads to God doing amazing things tomorrow.

It’s interesting to me that Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), again focusing on the present, and trusting God with our future. We even see this in the Lord’s prayer when He said, “give us this day our daily bread”. We are asking for provision in the present, not the future.

So without worrying about the future, or spending so much time wishing for it that we lose sight of the present, what do we know about it?

We know that God has plans for us, good plans, plans for our benefit (Jeremiah 29:11). We know that good will conquer evil and that evil will be judged (Revelation 19 & 20). We know that there will be a renewal of everything, and that those who follow Jesus will get to rule alongside him (Matthew 19:28). Doesn’t it make sense that when God renews all things that it will be a lot like his intent at the creation? He made man in His image, gave man the earth, and told us to rule over it (Genesis 1).

There is even more about the future we could get into, most of which I am not qualified in the least to try to interpret or explain, but I do want to make two more observations. Jesus tells us to be perfect (Matthew 5:48), knowing full well that we on our own, are hopeless to accomplish it. C.S. Lewis puts it this way in Mere Christianity:

[Jesus warns] ’Whatever suffering it may cost you in your earthly life, whatever inconceivable purification it may cost you after death, whatever it costs Me, I will never rest, nor let you rest, until you are literally perfect – until my Father can say without reservation that He is well please with you, as He said He was well pleased with me. This I can do and will do. But I will not do anything less.’……..The command “be ye perfect” is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures who can obey that command.

So what does this mean for us and what practical steps can we take to allow for this process towards perfection?

What God may hereafter require of you, you must not give yourself the least trouble about. Everything he gives you to do, you must do as well as ever you can, and that is the best possible preparation for what He may want you to do next. If people would but do what they have to do, they would always find themselves ready for what came next.
– George MacDonald

Once again, we focus on the present to prepare ourselves for the future. Today is the day to seek His will. Today is the day to accomplish what he has put in front of us as well as we can. Don’t put it off until tomorrow.

He has a plan for our future, and we are guaranteed to face trials and tribulations. But even on our worst days, in the most stressful, straining periods of our lives He is with us, teaching us, guiding us….. perfecting us — as long as we let Him.