Present Good > Future Good

It was Saturday and I had a conundrum.  My in-laws were in town and we had church the next day.  Our church had been meeting in-person.  I knew my in-laws wouldn't feel comfortable going to an in-person service.  So, I wondered what we should do.  Should we stay home and watch online?  Or should we go?  I didn't want to put them in a position they didn't choose to be in with the virus.

I didn't have to make the decision.  Saturday we got an e-mail saying service was canceled due to a positive case of COVID-19 in a family and some contacts with that family made by both pastors.

That Sunday my in-laws were in town because Christine and I had a CPR and First Aid class that afternoon and they were going to watch the kids.  We were going to leave the house at 12:20.  A little before noon I got a call saying the instructor was sick and the class was canceled.

This is the life we live now.  Our plans are very unsure.  Will schools meet in-person all semester?  Will sports happen?  Will your family Christmas gathering happen? 

We know nothing.

This morning I was on the phone with a friend that I was about to interview.  He talked about how the business he worked at was waiting to unveil their plans for the Fall.  I said I feel like we're stuck in the verse in James.

"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.'  Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'  As it is, you boast and brag.  All such boasting is evil.  Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."  James 4:13-17

Let's use this time of uncertainty to learn. 

During this pandemic we are keenly aware that we can't predict the basic things of the future.  Our plans all have to be held onto loosely.  We all know that we can't know.

James told us this truth 2,000 years ago.  What is my life?  It is a mist.  My life is dictated by the will of the Lord.  Believing anything else is braggadocios.

So, what do we do when life is a constant flux?  What do we do when we can't know if our plans will go as we intend? 

We do the good in front of us.

"Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do, and doesn't do it, sins."  James 4:17

The lesson of this verse and of our uncertain times is don't plan on future good when present good is available.  Don't think, "When I have the money, I will be generous."  Be generous now.  Don't delay doing the good set before you now in order to do good later.  Don't exchange actual good for theoretical future good.

What good is there for you to do today?  What has been presented to your present? 

Do it, before it's too late, today.