NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
In His book Shadows on the Wall, devotional writer F. W. Boreham told of preaching in a particular church during his college days. The preaching engagement involved an overnight stay in the home of Old Bessie the widow of the former pastor. Sleeping in the room normally occupied by Bessie, Boreham rose the next morning and pulled back the curtains. There, etched in the glass, were the words, "THIS IS THE DAY." When downstairs at breakfast Boreham asked Bessie about it.
"I had a lot of trouble in my time," she explained, "and I am a great one to worry. I was afraid of what was going to happen tomorrow. And each morning when I woke up I felt as though I had the weight of the world upon me. Then one day, when I was very upset about things, I sat down and read my Bible. It happened that I was reading 118th psalm. When I came to the 24th verse, I stopped. This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it . . . . . It flashed upon me like a burst of sunshine on a gloomy day."
Grabbing a glass-cutting tool from within the house, Old Bessie scooted upstairs and scrawled the words on the windowpane. "There!" she thought. "Now I shall see that little bit of Bible every morning when I draw up the blind, and I will say to myself, 'This is the day!'
Bessie's resolve should be ours. By God's grace we should make the most of every day. There are three time zones in which we may live our lives: the past, the future, or the present. Those who live in the past are usually enamored by what they remember as "the good old days," which weren't so good, or they are tethered to regrets over past wrongs. Those who live in the future are always anticipating a certain boat to come in that will make everything right. But those who are preoccupied with the past or fascinated with the future do not make anything of the day the Lord has made.
We ought to learn from the past; we ought to look to the future, but we ought to live in the present. We must recognize that the day we are in has been sent and shaped by the sovereign hand and loving heart of God. It is a good day even when it is a bad day (Rom. 8:28). Therefore we can resolve to be glad in it for God's goodness and mercy is in it (Psalm 23:6).
Remember there is no time like the present because there is no time but the present. Plus, God is a present help in the present (Psalm 46:1).