Live in the moment," we often hear.  "Live for today," is our mantra.  "Spend it now," seems to be our national philosophy, no matter whether such a sentiment has to do with personal income or non-replenishable natural resources.  We even blithely wage war without thinking the cost our children (and beyond) will bear to pay for it.  "Eat your dessert first," because you may not live to see it.  Some of us also have the equally fallacious habit of living in the past: "Ah, the good old days," we opine.  "When life was much more innocent and easier."  You mean those days at the turn of two centuries ago when children as young as five were forced to work in factories that often kept them from turning six?  You mean those times when most women died in childbirth and the apex of dental technology was tongs and a hammer?  Those good old days?

Despite what our culture tells us, if we live predominantly in the past or the present, we stagnate and become lethargic which, unchecked, can lead to apathy, hopelessness and even abuse.  The interesting thing about the Bible is that it is primarily future-oriented.  No matter whether we're dealing with the Hebrew or the Christian scriptures of the Bible, God is always calling humanity forward into the future, a better time than the present, certainly a time of greater hope and promise than the past.

The future is a space/time/place, even a current state of being and thinking that leads us to where God-and a far better world and life awaits us.  That's what brought the Jews through the exile in <city><place>Babylon</place></city> and the holocaust of Nazi Germany; that's what brought the Christian martyrs of the 1st and 2nd centuries through the torture of the <place>Roman Empire</place>, and it's the only thing that will ensure the survival of any church and single believer today.  In God's eyes and even just the plain fact of nature: if we live for today and stop thinking about tomorrow, the end is not far off.

 

These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt-offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind; therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter.  And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.

 

To the leader. A Song. A Psalm.

Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise.  Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!  Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.  All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name.’  Selah

Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.  He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the river on foot.  There we rejoiced in him, who rules by his might for ever, whose eyes keep watch on the nations—let the rebellious not exalt themselves.  Selah

Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.  For you, O God, have tested us;
you have tried us as silver is tried.  You brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs; you let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

 

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.  The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.