Be Present: Instant Replay

“Why not just live in the moment, especially if it has a good beat?” –Goldie Hawn

Although I’ll be the first to admit an almost blind approval for anything technology-driven, let me declare my love/hate relationship with instant replay in sports.  If there can be such a thing as road rage, I believe I may be a replay rage-aholic.

It’s bad enough that the NFL referees have a penalty flag they can throw any time to stop the momentum of the game, but now coaches have a “challenge” flag tucked in their sock or back pocket!?!  And then, of course there is the booth referees tucked away in some media man cave somewhere, looking at high definition renditions of what just happened over and over and over again from every angle?  So the game comes to a screeching halt, and we’re stuck like commuter traffic purgatory, as the referee dons a black hood to repeated review the penalty?  Oh the humanity! 

Okay I’m done venting.  But seriously?  Now instant replay is creeping into the NBA. . . What’s next?  Life instant replay?  Okay, I’m done venting now.  Really.

Yet televised sports isn’t the only place where “instant replay” is plaguing our world, there are places far more important where it’s taking a more discouraging toll.

Should ha’

Could ha’

Would ha’

As a student looking at test scores, “I should have studied instead of goofing off...”

As a spouse early in marriage, “I could have been more understanding and less stubborn...”

As a parent regretting angry words, “If only I would have taken a moment to listen to her side of the story…”

Don’t get me wrong, there is great benefit to gaining wisdom through our past mistakes.  And certainly our past can serve as a reference point for better choices in the future.

But what’s often a stumbling point is the debilitating mental instant replay of life’s fumbles, mistakes, intentional fouls, and unsportsman-like conduct—The instant replay of our sins.  While there is virtue in remorse and the turn of a repentant heart—repeated replay of our failures and faux pas is destructive, and one of the devil’s tools to stop GOD’s momentum in your life.

Thank GOD for the forgiveness and freedom offered in our Savior, Christ Jesus!

“Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.” –2Corinthians 5:17-18 [Message]

Christ Jesus takes the replay remote away from Satan, and offers us the opportunity to live life freely.  Our past sins are erased, and we are invited to experience the new day, fully present.

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” –Henry David Thoreau

May you spend this moment fully living, free from the torment of replaying past sins.  May this new day in Christ be filled with all the possibilities and freedom that His forgiveness affords.  Today may you truly live to the full.

Encounter Prayer:

Lord, who is a God like you?
    You forgive sin.
You forgive your people
    when they do what is wrong.
You don’t stay angry forever.
    Instead, you take delight in showing
    your faithful love to them.
Once again you will show loving concern for us.
    You will completely wipe out
    the evil things we’ve done.
You will throw all of our sins
    into the bottom of the sea. –Micah 7:18-19 [NIrV]

Encounter:

• What parts of your past haunt you?
• Who might you need to make amends with and reconcile?
• How are you going to live this day freely and fully in Christ Jesus? 

 

Be Present: Past is Past by Robert Dickerson

Encounter the Word:

The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.  –Philippians 3:7-11 [Message]

Your past is the past, set in stone, unchangeable. It doesn't matter if you used to keep the letter of the law or if you were a menace to society, you are now a servant of GOD—He lives within your heart and all the beauty that He brings He gives freely to you. Love, compassion, and grace He pours over you, changing you into His image, molding you into the person you were intended to be.

Stop pointing to your past, for you are pointing in the wrong direction. If you are pointing to previous actions to define yourself your arm is pointing away from GOD and what He's accomplished in your life. GOD and only GOD, is the only source that defines our lives for without Him, what kind of rubbish have you created that compares to Him?

Watch out for fellow believers that point to their past. One's past doesn't define who they are because we all started off as sinners. One's status in life isn't defined by being born into wealth or how large your family is. Recognize these people so that you are not misled. GOD’s Spirit doesn't boast about past accomplishments, but gives the blessing of joy in knowing that GOD has seen your choices to work for His glory. Your reward is being prepared in Heaven and if you try and take it early here on Earth, you are stealing it from Heaven. Personally, I'd rather reap my reward for eternity than the brief blink of an eye here on Earth.

Encounter Prayer:

So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it… We're citizens of high heaven! We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him. Amen –Philippians 3:15-16,20-21 [Message]

Encounter:

• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• When you list what you have done in a resume or vitae, who are you seeking to impress? How?
• What role do you believe your past will play in your salvation?
• How might you see and share your life so as to give glory to GOD for what He has done?

Devotional by Robert Dickerson of Younger Generation Church.  Posted by A. Allan Martin by permission.

Be Present: DWELL

Encounter the Word:

For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.  –Psalm 84:10 [ESV]

We get to choose where we spend our days.

Some of us DWELL on Yesterday.  We get hung up with regrets, and wishes that things had been different.  We remember hurts, and heartache.  We hang on to hatred and harbor resentment that all that could have, should have, would have been didn't turn out right.  We feel guilt, and shame, and unworthy, because our past record declares us guilty.

If we are not careful, we can be imprisoned by the past.  We feel coerced to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

But GOD had other plans, and through his Son, GOD gives us another place to dwell.

“So now anyone who is in Christ Jesus is not judged guilty.” –Romans 8:1 [ERV]

“So if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.” –John 8:36 [Message]

GOD claims us as His own, forgives us, and offers us Himself as our refuge.

Yet there are others who DWELL on tomorrow.  We fret about the forecasts.  We are nervous as the newscasts are filled with naysayers calling for impending doom and despair.  We believe in murphy's law and predict things going wrong before anyone even has a chance to do anything at all.  We get frozen because of our fear of what's around the corner.
 

If we are not careful, we can be so anxious about the future, that it consumes us. We feel coerced to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

But GOD had other plans, and through his Son, GOD gives us another place to dwell.

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. –Matthew 6:34 [Message]

Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. –Philippians 4:6-7 [Message]

As opposed to squandering our days in the tents of wickedness, let us DWELL with the LORD.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent. –Psalm 91:9-10 [NIV]

Choose today to make GOD your refuge, the source of your strength.  Today, let GOD make His dwelling place your life.  Abide in Him, and let GOD abide in you, calling you His very own.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. –Revelation 21:3 [NIV]
 

Encounter Prayer:
May today be yet another day I fully experience life as you intended.  I choose right now to rely on You GOD, as my strength.  May if find refuge in You, my Savior and Friend. Amen.

Encounter:

• How have the tents of wickedness been working out for you?
• Where do you want to dwell?  What steps you taking to move in?
• What might you experience if you decide to spend time in GOD's courts?  What are the benefits of His being your refuge?

 

Be Present: Omnipresence

"The question is not whether the things that happen to you are chance things or God's things because, of course, they are both at once. There is no chance thing through which God cannot speak—even the walk from the house to the garage that you have walked ten thousand times before, even the moments when you cannot believe there is a God who speaks at all. . . He speaks, I believe, and the words he speaks are incarnate in the flesh and blood of our selves and our own footsore and sacred journeys. We cannot live our lives constantly looking back, listening back, lest we be turned to pillars of longing and regret, but to live without listening at all is to live deaf to the fullness of the music.” —Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey

Recently a good friend and mentor shared this Buechner quote with me, and its profound insight has haunted me over these past several months.  It reminds me of the peculiar nature of GOD’s omnipresence, being in all places and spaces of life.  My heart likes to think of GOD being infinite and universal, present in the spinning of galaxies while caring for starving third world countries.

I rarely think of GOD being present with me as I yawn through a committee meeting or as I head to the bathroom to brush my teeth.

I love to think of GOD dramatically present in protecting our service men and women, present in healing terminally-ill children, present in rescuing disaster survivors.  I rarely think of Him cringingly present when I laugh at an off-color joke or helpfully there when I forgot the keys to the house.  I envision GOD’s presence in the miraculous, and often don’t notice Him in the mundane.

In Matthew 6:26 [NKJV], Jesus shares, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

I am valuable to GOD.  It astounds me that GOD loves so deeply as to be present for the little details of my life.  My journey need not be spectacular or exceptional for Him to take note—everything about me matters to Him.

But there is also a dark side to becoming aware of such holy omnipresence.  Recognizing that GOD is present in all my life, including my sordid past, can leave room for shame and regret to erode my soul.  My history is filled with lessons learned “the hard way” and missed opportunities—it’s easy enough to look back at my life and become a “pillar of longing and regret.”

Not giving in to the dark side of my past, the reality of GOD’s omnipresence has its best frame based less on my history and more on HIS story.  There is a balanced benefit in remembering the past, only to the degree we are reminded of GOD’s greatness and gracefulness.  The journey affords us stories of GOD’s pursuit, GOD’s guidance, and His rescue.  The landmarks of our past need only be a reminder of how awesome it is to arrive at home with GOD.

Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, 

   sparrows and swallows make nests there. 

They lay their eggs and raise their young, 

   singing their songs in the place where we worship. 

God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! 

   How blessed they are to live and sing there!   

–Psalm 84:3-4 [Message]

As we remember our journey, may we see GOD’s watchcare in the midst of the miraculous and mundane.  May His presence in every step of life build our confidence in His steadfast love, so that all that is remembered of the past milestones is GOD’s faithfulness to carry us through. 

"Sometimes we avoid listening for fear of what we may hear, sometimes for fear that we may hear nothing at all but the empty rattle of our own feet on the pavement. But be not affeard, says Caliban, nor is he the only one to say it. "Be not afraid," says another, "for lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." He says he is with us on our journeys. He says he has been with us since each of our journeys began. Listen for him. Listen to the sweet and bitter airs of your present and your past for the sound of him." —Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey

Encounter the Word:

"What's the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries." --Luke 12:6-7 [Message]

Encounter:

• With GOD is there such a thing as "coincidence?"  Explain.
• In what ordinary aspects of today would it be helpful to be aware of GOD's presence?  How will you increase your awareness of GOD in the midst of today's mundane details?
• Where in your past do you see GOD's presence?

Be Present: Treasure Today

As a teenager, I remember grown ups talking gloriously of how it was in the “old days.”  They would talk about how this, that, or the other was so much better back then compared to now. 

“When I was growing up…” 

“Life was better when...” 

“Back in the day we used to…”  

And as I have grown older, I have caught myself at times doing the same thing; sharing fairy-tale sized stories of my own “days gone by” and the bigger than life exploits of my yesteryears.  Yesterday was all that.  Right?

On the other side of the pendulum, as an adolescent, I had a great optimism about the future—bright, bold, and full of promise.  This appeared no more prominently than in my great ability to procrastinate.  Whether it was household chores or the earth science project for class or brushing my teeth, I was almost genius in my ability to put off until later, practically anything.  It was a real skill.

Even as an adult, I can put off packing a suitcase, cleaning the garage, or getting on the treadmill almost indefinitely.  There’s always tomorrow.  Right?

In his book, Today Matters, leadership guru John Maxwell, outlines well my plight, and maybe you share my predicament:

• We over exaggerate yesterday – past failures and successes
• We overestimate tomorrow – things will get better, I will do it tomorrow
• We underestimate today – don’t recognize today’s potential and value

True.  In my more honest moments, I would confess to have squandered more than my share of todays.  Fondly framing yesterday and/or putting off until tomorrow, I’ve missed the power and precious jewel of today.

By embracing today, I have opportunity to form history that shines legacy.  If I embrace today, I foster a tomorrow that fills with hope and joy.  Exaggerating the past and overestimating the future are distortions that, at their very best are fantasy—at their very worst provoke anxiety.  All the while, what I have in my hands is…today.

So what might I do to harness the potential and value of today?  Matthew 6:33 [CEV] suggests, “But more than anything else, put GOD’s work first and do what He wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.”

More than the future or the past, seek first Christ’s kingdom and His righteousness…right now. Today.

Today, I want to be in His story, not merely idolizing history.

Today, I want to be in this moment, not putting off real life to some day.

Today, I want to be all about Christ Jesus, because He holds all of it—

   My past.

   My future.

   My present.

Today, I want to be present.

“Do not look back and grieve over the past, for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has yet to come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering” –Ida Scott Taylor

May you and I live in the present, love in the present, and discover the gift of the present…today.

Encounter Prayer:

Christ Jesus, let today be for Your fame.  May I seek after what is most important to You and find delight in the freedom to embrace this moment for Your glory.  Whatever You decide to give me is great, but for right now, let me give you today. Amen.

Encounter:

• What does it mean to you to “seek first Christ’s kingdom and His righteousness?” Beyond the religious stock answers, what are some practical ways to do this?
• Amidst what you have planned for today, what will offer you chances to seek Christ Jesus’ kingdom?
• How might you “Be Present” today?