By Pastor Brandon Young
Happy New Year to each of you! Thanks so much for taking the time every Friday to read the Solution Column. We pray that in 2020, we can continue to be a blessing, and provide applied solutions to real-world, everyday problems. During this time of the year, we find ourselves reflecting and often thinking in the “coulda, woulda, shoulda” mindset. Then, we plan and plot what we can do better in the new year. Lots of promises are made and not completely kept. There’s nothing to add or subtract from our past year. In fact, last year is now in the record books, and if we decide to live in the past, we will miss the present. It is so easy to get entangled in what is behind us and not keep moving forward.
Jesus said in Luke 9: 59-62, “And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” This is a tough scripture for us all. We may feel this man should be permitted to go back home and tell his family goodbye, but Jesus disagreed! He wanted this young man to live in the moment and follow him. Jesus declared that if the man looked back, he was not fit for the kingdom of God!
We do lots of looking back, and we wonder why we have such difficulty moving forward and deeper into Christ Jesus. Satan loves to keep us distracted on what should’ve been rather than seeing the present moment. Reflecting on 2019, we must look at all the blessings from God, and praise him for his faithfulness! I was taught that it was a good thing to try to figure out what went wrong and correct the past. This mindset seems so logical, but in all honesty, you will never find Jesus telling us to look back. We must examine our present selves! Where are we currently is a much better question than where have we been.
Another trap we can fall into is looking ahead continually to the future.
Once again, Jesus says in Matthew 6:31-34, “31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 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.” It is obvious that Jesus did not want us in the past or thinking too far into the future. You may be asking yourself, “Where does Jesus want us?” He wants us in the moment, the present, the here and now! I would say we have already somewhat mapped out 2020. We have looked months ahead, but Jesus said to not even think about tomorrow. Why would Jesus care for us to look back or look ahead?
Stress, worry, and anxiety appear instantly as we look back on the past and ahead toward the future, causing us not to enjoy the moment. We stress over how the past year turned out, and we are filled with anxiety on how we are going to do things different in the new year. We are not able to enjoy any of our relationships, including the most important one with Jesus! We can look at the story of Mary and Martha and see this issue. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus in the moment while Martha cleaned, cooked, and served so she could “enjoy” her moment with Jesus once it was all finished. Jesus said, however, that Mary had chosen the good part. Let’s savor the moments we have been given; we have no promise of another day. In 2020, I pray that we all can live in the moment. Thank God for the 2019 blessings and then take life one day at a time!
I’d like to close with the lyrics of One Day at a Time by Merle Haggard.
I’m only human I’m just a man
Help me to believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway that I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking from you
Give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you’re looking below it’s worse now than then
Pushing and shoving crowding my mind
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

One day at a time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking from you
Give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

Yes, just for my sake teach me to take one day at a time…
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, David Odom.)