Now is a holy moment. In fact, now is the holiest moment of all. Because now is the exact point in time where you and God are both together in the same place.
God is here, now. You are here now. Now is the only time you can ever meet with God.
Perhaps this is why the scriptures tell us that “Now is the time of God’s favor” and “Now is the day of salvation.” [2 Cor. 6:2]
Yet, for some reason, most of us really don’t spend our time focused on being here now. Instead, we either dwell on the past or we place our hope in the future. By doing this, we refuse to actually be in the present moment and experience the glorious miracle of now.
A few years ago I got caught in that endless feedback loop myself. I had been laid off from a job I really loved nearly a year previously. All I could do was dream about finding another job situation that mirrored this experience. In fact, I was so focused on recreating the conditions of that previous job that I was unable to let go and receive what God had for me in the present moment. Once I realized that I was allowing that experience in my past to rule my thoughts I let go of that and stopped trying to relive those glory days. That’s what allowed me to move forward.
We can also be guilty of living in the “what if?” of tomorrow and become a slave to the future. In other words, we put our lives today on hold because we’re waiting for something to happen first. We think that our lives will really begin once we fall in love, or get married, or have children, or get our Master’s degree, or become missionaries, or write that book, or…fill in the blank.
The problem with this, of course, is that by placing all of our attention on tomorrow, we forget to really live in today.
I can remember thinking that when I graduated from High School I would be a different person. But I wasn’t. I felt the same. Then I thought that I would feel different when my band released our first album. But I didn’t. I was still the same.
Then I thought that I’d be different when I got licensed and ordained. But I didn’t. I was the same person.
Then I thought I’d be different after I got married. But that didn’t change either. I was always the same person, no matter what I experienced.
So, I eventually let go of those expectations that some future event or condition could really change how I felt or who I was on the inside.
The future is always a day away. It’s forever out of our reach.
The past is always a memory. We can never really go back there.
But now is here no matter what we do. It never goes away. It is always now.
That’s the good news. We are citizens of the eternal now.
If we embrace this truth, and really start to focus our energies on being intentional about it, we can actually receive this as a gift.
You see, God cannot meet you in the past, because you are not in the past. You are here now.
God cannot meet you in the future, but you are not in the future. You are here now.
God is here now, too. Both of you are here – now.
Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Let yourself really soak in this moment.
Embrace the holiness of now and receive it as God’s gift to you.
Now is the time. The time is now.
God will meet you now.
Are you ready?
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Keith Giles is the author of several books, including “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb”. He is also the co-host of the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes and Podbean. He and his wife live in Orange, CA with their two sons.
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*Organic Church Conference with Neil Cole, Ross Rohde, Dan Notti and Keith Giles on Saturday, May 12 in Long Beach, CA. Register here>
*Jesus, the Bible and the Holy Spirit Conference with Jon Zens, Tom Atkinson, and Keith Giles, on May 18-20 in Seattle, WA. Register here>
*The Nonviolent Love of Christ: How Loving Our Enemies Saves The World, with Joshua Lawson and Keith Giles on Saturday, June 16 in Portsmouth Ohio. Register here>
*Crucifying Our Politics with Keith Giles on June 24 in Cleveland, OH. Register here>
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