Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Living in the "Now"

A friend gave me the movie The Peaceful Warrior to watch. It’s a good movie. Whenever people start talking about finding the truth “inside you” I always get leery of New Age thinking. And while there is a hint of this, for the most part there is a lot of truth in the movie’s point.
Essentially, the focus is on living in the “now”. The Bible confirms this thinking. Two verses jump out at me:

Paul writes in Philippians 3:13 – “…one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead…”

Jesus says in Matthew 6:43 – “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

There you have it! Yesterday is done – learn what you need to learn and move on. Tomorrow isn’t here yet – so deal with what you have to deal with today and don’t worry about the future. Of course, this is much easier said then done, but I believe we spend way too much time and energy thinking about things that are totally out of our control. This has no benefit to our lives whatsoever.

Live in the “now”. Enjoy the journey – or as another friend’s t-shirt for a white-water rafting company says – “The journey is the destination!”

By the way, we have one comment on the last post regarding God's religion. I'm waiting for a couple more before I respond, so post your thoughts.

/D

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Inspirational film, The Peaceful Warrior, but in that movie did they not make the point, "It's NOT the destination, but the journey."?

(Dan and Mysterious Stranger hike 3 hours for a rock!)

I don't think I'll go out and buy any river rafting t-shirts.

Kathy said...

Well said... Live today, don't worry about tomorrow. If you worry about tomorrow, how can you effectivly live out today. You can't, cause you're wrapped up in what about tomorrow, next week, next year! Live today and live it to it's fullest!

Sarah said...

Wow! I love reading your blogs.
Your profile says you are a pastor what denomination are you affiliated with?
We are currently looking for potential pastoral candidates for our church in Louisville Ky.
Blessings,
Jen

Dave said...

Hey Anonymous - I don't think I explained the quote clearly - the point of the quote is that it's is all about the journey. It's not about getting to a destination - the journey is the destination.

Dave said...

Kathy - yep - live today!

This doesn't mean we don't make plans and set goals, etc. But we don't LIVE in the past or the future. I know many struggle with their past, but for me I usually catch myself living in the future. I think things like, "I can't wait until ___ happens, then everything will calm down, or be all right or whatever."

Dave said...

Hey, Jen! I appreciate your kind words. I was ordained Southern Baptist, but I'm moving away from the whole denominational thing. I'm not anti-denominational, I just find denominations tend to divide us instead of unite us, so I don't focus on them.

I doubt you would want me as a pastor - I tend to rock the boat pretty hard. And as far as coloring outside the lines - I see crayon marks on the walls, ceiling, my car's dashboard - yeah - I'm outside the lines.

But, I'd love for you to follow the blog and give your input.