“Pastor, what should we do about the future?”
From a young man that's unsettled about the future with educational,technological and geopolitical concerns.
My dear friend,
That’s an honest question. Many thoughtful young adults are asking it. The world feels strange and uncertain.Technology changes faster than we can understand, let alone govern. Geopolitics are shifting like a giant puzzle. Wars, jobs, money, gas, family, education, and even the meaning of life all seem to be clogging our feet with anxiousness. Your question is the question of a generation that hopes to be here when I’m long gone.
Well,
the first thing to remember is this: the future does not belong to us.
It belongs to God.
No path will perfectly prepare you for the next crisis. You cannot outthink providence. Or build walls high enough or dig a moat wide enough to keep the future out. The settled Christian is the one who has learned to walk before the face of God with a clean conscience, a quiet heart, and faithfulness for the day he is in.
Jesus says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:34). Another way of saying it would be, own your creatureliness. You are not God. You are not meant to carry the future on your shoulders.
So what should you do about the future?
Fear God. Delight in His law. Believe the gospel. Keep your conscience clean. Learn useful skills. Love your family. Be faithful in your church. Work with your hands and your mind. Avoid debt where you can. Don’t give your heart to this world. Read books too hard for you (your future self will thank you for it). Pray daily, or better yet, pray throughout the day. Choose friends who love truth. Prepare for suffering without becoming a prepper-doomer. Try to build a life that could survive both prosperity and adversity.
Above all, belong to Christ.
A man can have it all: a meaningful career, money, emergency plans, land, tools, and a heap of knowledge, and still have nothing for eternity. Today’s question is “Will the world be okay?” My question is, “Am I reconciled to God through the blood of His Son?” If I am, I have a good future, come what may. He made the future.
The believing man’s life is hidden with Christ in God. He may not know the road ahead, but he knows the end. Sometimes the path before us is lit up. Sometimes we are given only enough light for the next step. That is why His Word is “a lamp unto my feet”, and “a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). Rarely are we given both. Find something you enjoy to do outside (biking, hiking, walking, fly fishing ;-). Study creation for wonderment, not education.
Think often about the fall, the Savior, the resurrection, judgment, the new heavens and new earth. Think especially about that Lamb upon the throne, who is the end of sin and death. And think about the kingdom that will have no end. Yes, read Augustine’s City of God. Let your mind grow large enough to see this dark age in the light of the Eternal City.
I’m sorry to say that this will seem rather general advice.
You may feel that this has not answered your question.
Or perhaps it has.
“Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).
Do that today. Then do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and all your days.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
Warmly,
Pastor