My dear readers,

1. Time now is fleeting

Many live with an unwise interest in the future, and an unhealthy anxiety about tomorrow. In this modern, scientific age, the psychics and gurus are still doing a brisk business. This is a warning to those living in this error of unhealthy anxiety about the future. Jesus says, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matt 6:34). Will you take heed?

What flagrant folly for man, who does not know what today may bring, to boast of tomorrow! Only God is omniscient; here man must be content with probabilities. When tomorrow comes, will it bring good news or bad, joy or sorrow, health or disease, hope or ruin? We don’t know. One certainty is that all things in this life are uncertain. How fleeting are all things. Mercifully, we are left with a necessary veil over the future that makes it possible to live today. Yet, many leave God out of the reckoning today. The Bible urges: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt 4:17). Most don’t question the need for repentance, just the time for it. Tomorrow is the reply of youth, of the adult, and even unto old age. The Holy Ghost says, "Today." Folly says, "Tomorrow." We have a false notion that repentance has to do only with the future, that temporal things are of greater urgency than spiritual. This is folly indeed! We can only prepare for tomorrow today.

Though we are not to worry about the future, neither are we to be derelict in our duty to ourselves, to our families and least of all, to our God. When Jesus said, "Take therefore no [anxious]thought for the morrow" (Matt 6:34), He was not prohibiting all long-term planning. We will be held accountable for our irresponsibility as well as for our wilful ignorance. Man, made in the image of God, is without excuse (Rom 1:18–23). The Bible clearly says:"Now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6:2). There is a heaven to gain and a hell to shun. Jesus emphasized this on many occasions (John 3:36). Modern religious sentimentality allows people to think that heaven is open to all. They believe that there is no day of reckoning. The Bible teaches the opposite. It is the duty of all to repent now or face the consequences when it is too late (Acts 17:30; 1 Cor 3:13-15). If you would boast, boast in the Lord.

2. The moments are passing

Tomorrow may usher in eternity! Man’s greatest error is failure to seize today’s moment today. "The OT sweeps away the widespread error, the negative; the NT then deposits its saving truth in its bosom, the positive. The Law declares that tomorrow is the worst time for making decisive choices, and the Gospel proposes today as the best" (Arnot).

We may dislike boasters, but are we not often guilty ourselves, even unconsciously? Do we not tend to take life too much for granted? We think that we can control the events of life, or most of them, anyway. Jesus called someone like that "thou fool!" We need the humility that does not presume on the future. God’s Word through Micah was: "walk humbly with thy God" (Mic 6:8), i.e., to keep close to God. Amos asked: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3). How often this humble walk is advocated in the NT! Paul said, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil 2:5). Only thus can we live-out the in-life of Christ. Peter says: "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God" (1 Pet 5:6). We are daily obliged to check our independence that Christ may be seen in us. We live too much according to the flesh rather than to the Spirit (Rom 8:13)! Is not the Christian called daily to cross-bearing and self-denial? A humble walk and a boasting spirit cancel each other!

Why did Jesus say we were to take no [anxious] thought? It was because your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. Our God has "the pre-vision as well as the provision." He is Sovereign Lord, and knows the end from the beginning. He marks the fall of a sparrow, gives the lilies of the field their glory, knows the number of hairs on our heads. Can you not trust Him to care for you? Can you not leave tomorrow in His Hands, and trust Him for today? Recall the key verse of Proverbs: "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Prov 3:5-6). "Happy is he…whose hope is in the LORD his God" (Ps 146:5).

3. Are you travelling wisely? (Prov 30:29-31)

The Bible continually reminds us that life is like a journey that begins in the cradle and ends in the grave. For most, this pilgrimage is measured in years, while for some, it is measured only in days. The question that Scripture continually brings before us is: How are you travelling?

The Mighty Cat! (Prov 30:30): There is first, the firm and stately walk of the lion, fearless and proud, not turning away from any. It is often observed that a lion never flees from his pursuers, be they man or beast, but walks away with a slow and majestic pace. This is the lesson God would teach us here, for we have been told already: the righteous are bold as a lion (Prov 28:1). Where are there those among us who are engaged in the good fight of faith against the world, the flesh, and the devil? Surely all must see, unless spiritually blind, that this world is dominated by a growing paganism! This includes the perversions in morality, the lust of the flesh; the seductions of life, the lust of the eyes; and the false ambitions, or the pride of life. We need, therefore, the strength and courage of the lion if we would travel wisely "through the wilderness of this world," and have we not the promise of the Lion of Judah to go before us on the journey?

The Majestic Dog! (Prov 30:31): Who that has seen a greyhound racing has not been amazed at its speed. Its swiftness, combined with its keen power of scent, makes it the winner of a crown. What is the lesson for us here? Is it to remind us that life calls for haste; that men are prone to loiter, to waste time that can never return? Does man’s conscience answer to the scent of the hound? How tragic that that scent should be so faint! Paul referred to the incorruptible crown (1 Cor 9:25), for those who endure to the end. There is the crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:8), calling all to righteous living. There is the crown of rejoicing (1 Thess 2:19) for soul-winners, and finally, there is the crown of glory, when the Chief Shepherd shall appear. Will you be faithful unto death and receive the Crown of Life (Rev 2:10)?

Any want of comeliness in us can only bring disrepute to the name of Christ and the Gospel we profess before a hostile and unbelieving world. "If we desire to reign in heaven, we must present ourselves there with this beautiful crown, from whence radiate all kinds of virtue and praise" (Daillè). (To be continued)

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor