Now...an interesting theme

I find myself traveling along an interesting track. In my last few
devotions at night I hear a recurring theme - Now. Chambers is
incredibly insightful about the Word of God. It is never a future tense.
Even in translating the new testament there is always an issue with many
of the verbs - they're often in the present future tense. Do it now, We
are now, We will be now...I don't quite get it.

Ok...brain's back on track now. Have you ever watched any of the Star
Wars movies? I love how much there is to pick from them. In episode one
- the first of the second batch of three, Obi One and Qui Gon Jin are
waiting in a room for some leaders. Obi one says he has a bad feeling,
but that it's elusive - in the future. His mentor says, don't worry too
much about the future, be mindful of the living, present force - the
here and now. Think about the future, but never at the expense of the
here and now. What great advice! Jesus gives us the same advice - "Don't
worry about tomorrow. . . each day has enough troubles of its own."
(Matt 6:34) Ever mindful of the future, but never at the expense of the
present - worry about the Now.

So what more? Now is more than just an adjective describing time, it's a
command - Now. When we're called to do something - and often I'm the
most notorious for this - do we ever do it now? No, we push it off very
frequently. I'm often a proud partaker of the Procrastinator's oath
"Never put off today that which you can put off tomorrow!" I never
really worry about whether or not something will get done - I only know
that it will be done, eventually. In some cases this is ok, but in most
others it is not. Times do come where we are overwhelmed by the "Now's"
that everyone throws at us. I'm bombarded with it daily at work, and I'm
sure that most others will find the same. It's then when we must
prioritize. But what ranks higher than another thing? How are we to
determine what is to come first? Do we work things from easy to hard, or
the other way around? Do we go from the most profitable to the least?
The answer is yes, we do.How often do I leave work with things still on
my mind that I didn't get finished that day, and compound it with the
notion that I won't get it done the day after? More than I'd like to
count. And this is only work, my daily 9 to 6 job that isn't the most
important in the world.

When we accept the Lord, we are called to a 24 hour job where Now is
literally that - Now. It is a verb, a noun, and an adjective. It is an
action, a time, and describing when all must be done. And before all
that can happen, now I must be a peace with all around me, as best as I
am able - forgiving when I am wronged and no remorse is shown by the
other party. Being accepting of either praise or persecution regardless
of circumstance or justness. Now will I do that which I am called for,
and Now I will focus solely on the one who did all Now, in one moment
hanging suspended outside of time. A single minute that is always in the
present - in the Now, with me wherever I go constantly reminding me of
the both the cost of where I'm going, and the fact I could never pay it
in my own means.

Now is the time that Christ made amends with all who wished him ill, and
said Forgive. Yet, even though it is a fact recorded in history because
the tomb is still empty it is not only in the past but is a real and
present act now, and will be until the end of the age, when it is needed
no longer, because the Now will be Then. And when the Now is Then, we
will be with Him the rest of eternity.

But it still starts with what happens Now. . .