God of the Future

    

      Even before the dawn of human creation, God, in his Triune council, thought about the future. His design was to create a world occupied by human beings created by him to worship and serve him forever. And ever since that creation, humans have turned their faces toward the future. It is because of our creation in God’s image, our historical relationship with God, and the eternity that he has placed in our hearts, that we can be called a people of the future.

      If we are to be a covenant people with God as our creator and sustainer, we must also be focused on the future. If we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, our thoughts must be on a future with him.

      We look back on the Old Testament examples and find people looking forward to the future. There we find a constant looking for what will happen next, when will the Christ come, when will we find peace?

       Noah looked at the covenant of the rainbow and saw a renewal of the earlier promise to Adam, to re-populate the earth and never another flood to destroy the earth. Abraham trusted God that he would be the father of not only the nation of Israel, but a spiritual father to all who believed in the future. Joseph knew that one day his people would leave Egypt and return to the land God had promised. He said, “When we return, take my bones with you and bury them in our land.” Moses and Joshua believed in the future of the Promised Land, and with God led the people back home.

      Jesus looked down on the small band of disciples, as he ascended back to heaven, and placed the future of his church in their hands saying, “Go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching what I have taught you.” Jesus believed in the future when he said that he would send the Holy Spirit and that he, Jesus, would return one day.

      We learn from the past, and we treasure it. We live in the present and realize how important every minute is. But our faces are turned to the future, the future of the next second, next hour, and the next day. Through the miracle of technology, I have placed the heartbeat of our soon-to-be-born grandson on the ring tone of my cell phone, because I believe in the future. I plant bushes and bulbs in my yard with the spring in mind. We must not stop planning for the next day.

      So we pray for our children, grandchildren, spouses, and ourselves. We pray and hope for a better job, a more concerned church, and for health and retirement. All the while, we must realize that it is in the future that we will find hope for the present.  

      And we keep on praying for those who need spiritual and physical healing. The answers will come, maybe this afternoon, maybe next week, or even next spring. God’s time is not our time and his thoughts are not the way we think. The God who created us, provides for us, and loves us so much will be with us in the future.

      So we take some of the past, live confidently in the present, as we serve a God who walks with us into the future.

 

Rev. Tim McConnell, Peachtree UMC, October 16, 2011