Living In The Now

Read: Daniel 12

As for you, go your way until the end. Daniel 12:13

IN WORD

The messenger who spoke to Daniel laid out provocative, tantalizing predictions for the prophet to write. He revealed deep mysteries that generation after generation for millennia to come would explore. Then, as if speaking to someone with restricted access to eternal secrets, the angel told Daniel to go his way.

Yes, these marvelous truths were not for Daniel and his generation. They had an immediate application in the deliverance of God’s people, of course, but they would not be ultimately fulfilled in Daniel’s presence. Like Moses the great prophet, who dealt in divine mysteries on a daily basis, Daniel found that the fulfillment of the promise would come outside of his own lifetime. He was to know and to write, not to live through it.

That’s often the way it is with those who read God’s Word. We see in Scripture the scope of world history—and even glimpses of cosmic history—yet we experience only what we learn of God’s character and His ways. Some of us were there during this or that great move of His Spirit, and some of us may be there when Jesus comes again. But God’s revelation is not primarily about those who experience the key events of time; it’s about those who experience the Person of eternity. Most of life isn’t epoch-altering; it’s going our way—God’s way—day in and day out. And we’re to keep going that way until we’ve finished our days.

IN DEED

Many Christians focus their spirituality around major events, whether those events are personal milestones or history-making headlines. We set our hearts on the big-ticket items of experience rather than on the day-to-day constancy of spiritual maturity. Like Daniel, our eyes and ears may be full of astounding, monumental truths. But also like Daniel, we’re called to live well in the little things.

Try not to live your spiritual experience as a series of mountaintops, but rather as a continuous journey in the valleys and the plains. See the mountaintops, but walk where you are. As you look toward the coming of Jesus, live in the presence of Jesus.

ADDITIONAL READING: 1 John 2:28

There is only one time that is important—now. It is the most important time because it is the only time we have any power over.

LEO TOLSTOY