Pros
update
21 February 08
Living in the Moment
‘I tell you now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of
salvation’ (2 Corinthian 6:2)
Many of the problems people face in the Christian life and in sport come
from not living in the moment. By this I do not mean that Christians
live the kind of existence as those who have no other reference point
but the here and now – that would be to buy into the kind of ‘eat drink
and be merry for tomorrow we die’ culture that is prevalent in the
world. No, Christians live between two concrete historical reference
points; in the past the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in
the future His certain return and the renewing of this world. However, I
do mean that so many problems occur from dwelling on the past or
worrying about the future rather than living in the moment.
In this verse from Paul’s second letter written to the Corinthian church
he urges them to concern themselves with the present; ‘now is the time
of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation’. In the context of the
letter Paul is urging the Corinthians to turn back to God from the false
apostles that they are following, but he urges them to reconcile
themselves ‘today’ or ‘now’. He knows too well the subtlety of the human
heart and the way that ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ seldom comes to fruition.
In this vein, Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, ‘To finish the moment to
find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest
number of good hours is wisdom’. It seems to me that the great enemies
of ‘now’ both in the Christian life and in sport, are dwelling on past
mistakes, or wishing on future glories.
Dwelling on past mistakes
How often have you made a mistake and thought “It’s going to be one of
those days” – a thought that usually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When you step back and think about this sentiment isn’t it a bizarre
thing to say? Why should one error necessarily have any bearing on
future actions; what happened is just that - something that happened in
the past and need have no bearing on the future. As I heard at a
conference not so long ago, ‘what happens to what happened after it has
happened? Nothing!’ Now the sharp thinker may well be thinking, “that
all sounds well and good but past mistakes do have present consequences
– so one mistake can really be that damaging”. Well there is truth in
that, but this is why Paul writes, ‘now is the day of salvation’ because
God, in Jesus Christ, comes to save us from all of our wrongdoing –
past, present, and future, and by his death deals with all of the
consequences of those failures. This means that in every moment as we
trust in Jesus we have a slate wiped clean. To dwell on the past is to
fail to trust the power of Jesus’ death. ‘Now is the day of salvation’!
Wishing on future glories
Similarly so many of us do not live rightly moment-by-moment, because we
spend our time wishing for a better future in such a way that we miss
the opportunities in the here and now. Again I do not mean that we
shouldn’t be mindful of the future because all Christians should live
shaped by the future return of Jesus. However, too often we use the
future as somewhere to play-out our dissatisfactions with the present.
“Maybe next year I’ll get that job and then I’ll be content” but the job
comes along and you’re still discontented because the problem wasn’t
really the job – it was your attitude. Or we think, “when I get passed
the ball then I’ll show what a brilliant player I am” but because we’re
daydreaming about the future we don’t get in the right position to
receive the ball and so we miss our opportunity. This is why Jesus tells
us ‘your heavenly Father knows what you need’… therefore ‘do not worry
about tomorrow’ (Matthew 6:32-34).
So as a Christian whether you’re on or off the pitch, don’t dwell on
past mistakes and don’t wish away your time on future glories, but
instead trust God and live in the now – for now is the day of salvation.
Pete
You are currently subscribed to Professional Sport email. To unsubscribe click here