Admonition is given in Scripture about stewardship of time. It is divided into day, night and then hours; with multiples of these to measure extended periods of events. But more emphasis is given to the proper use of the here and now (today) in preparation for the future – both physical and spiritual.
Our Lord dealt with both in a very positive and practical way. He taught that Kingdom work must be done when there is time to do it: “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4).
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus addressed the folly of worry about imaginary things that may happen tomorrow, hindering effective efforts to accomplish important assignments of today: “Do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’ (Mt. 6:34). Yet in another public sermon, He warns of future embarrassment caused by neglect of proper day-to-day planning to accomplish our goals: “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Lk. 14:28). Thus, there is a balance in using today in preparation for tomorrow.
Obviously influenced by the balanced message of Jesus (Mt. 6:34; Lk. 14:28), intellectuals of history wrote about the proper use of today in preparation for tomorrow:
“Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you” – Anonymous
“Borrow trouble for yourself, if that’s your nature, but don’t lend it to your neighbor” – Rudyard Kipling.
“Sufficient to each day are the duties to be done and the trials to be endured. God never built a Christian strong enough to carry today’s duties and tomorrow’s anxieties piled on top of them” – T. L Cuyler.
“No person ever served God by doing things tomorrow. If we honor Christ, and are blessed, it is by the things which we do today” – Edward Young.
Now, you take it from there!
