Worrying about the past, present, and future

Cynthia Campbell Jacobs

by Pringle Franklin

Give the past to Jesus Christ. He will take care of your mistakes. (Romans 3:24)

Give the future to your Heavenly Father; He has plans to prosper you, not plans to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Give the present to the Holy Spirit, trusting him to guide and protect you as you act and make decisions today. (John 14:26)

Remember that the NOW of your life is the only stage where you are permitted to act. The past is gone, and the future is out of reach.

In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, an elder demon advises his nephew on ways to turn men (called patients) from God: “There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy (God). He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.

“Your patient will, of course, have picked up the notion that he must submit with patience to the Enemy’s will. What the Enemy means by this is primarily that he should accept with patience the tribulation which has actually been dealt out to him—the present anxiety and suspense. It is about this that he is to say ‘Thy will be done’, and for the daily task of bearing this that the daily bread will be provided. It is your business to see that the patient never thinks of the present fear as his appointed cross, but only of the things he is afraid of. Let him regard them as his crosses; let him forget that, since they are incompatible, they cannot all happen to him, and let him try to practice fortitude and patience to them all in advance.”

Lewis goes on to say that fear blocks people from experiencing God’s aid in getting through a difficult time. God is right there, waiting to assist us, if we will turn our eyes way from the things we fear and simply ask for the daily bread to handle our present situation. Give the future to your Heavenly Father and lean on the Holy Spirit to navigate the path that unwinds before you today.