The Now Life

Marguerite Higgins, Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting, stood by a

marine during the Korean War. It was 42 below zero, and the soldier was weary and

covered with frozen mud. She asked him, " If I were God and could grant you anything

you wished, what would you most like?" He stood motionless for a moment and then

raised his head and replied, "Give me tomorrow." In a fear-filled world of uncertainty

where there is a big question mark about whether or not man has the sanity to prevent a

nuclear holocaust, this is a common choice-give me tomorrow.

On the other hand, Peter Bagdanovich, the well-known director of The Last Picture

Show and Paper Moon, was asked why he makes all his movies of the past. He replied,

"I like any time better than now. I just don't like what is happening today. The music

bores me, the cars are ugly, the people are dull. So I retreat to the past." In a decaying

world where so much of what was once good is being lost by the modern mania for the

new at any cost, this is the choice of millions-give me yesterday.

Each of us can identify with both choices, for they are the only two directions anybody

can go to escape today. Retreat to the past, or march forward into the future. Each

choice has its values that can be defended, but Jesus in the Sermon On The Mount

rejects them both. Instead, Jesus chooses to third alternative, the one the other two are

trying avoid. He says, don't escape to yesterday or tomorrow, but stand fast, and live for

today. Now is where its at.

The Lord's Prayer in chapter 6 is a now prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. All

of its petitions are for now. Hallowed be your name-now. Thy kingdom come now. Thy

will be done on earth-now. Forgive us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us

from evil, not eventually, but now, today. The Christian life is a now life. Jesus began

this sermon with the beatitudes, and you will notice they are not past or future, they are

present. Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are the merciful,

etc. All of them deal with the now and not the some day. Not, blessed will be, but blessed

are. The Christian life is to be a blessed life now.

The whole emphasis in this sermon on prevention is based on the now principle. You

do not wait until your anger becomes murderous hatred to deal with it. You control it

when it is developing right now. You don't wait until lust is boiling passion to deal with it.

It is not, get them while they are hot when it comes to emotions, but get them while there

warm, or even cool. You don't give the germs of evil a chance to develop and create

infection, but you go after them now. Catch the disease in its early stages, and stop it

before it progresses. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country,

and their souls as well. Now is always the best time when it comes to prevention. The

best time to do anything is between yesterday and tomorrow.

In this passage Jesus gives some specific examples of how the now principle is applied.

The gist of them is this: Little problems don't tend to fade away, but tend to grow and

become bigger, and so deal with them now when they are small, and not later. If you

have a bad relationship developing with someone, you don't wait until resentment has

time to fester and make healing hard. You don't say after I worship God on Sunday, I'll

try to patch it up on Monday. That is the give me tomorrow choice, and Jesus says don't

make that choice. Drop what you were doing, and settle the matter today. Now is always

the best time to do what prevents evil from building a stronger wall. "Don't let the sun

go down upon your wrath." Why not? Because you are choosing procrastination as a

method of dealing with sin, and it is not a wise choice. Deal with your anger today, and

prevent all of the sorrow it can produce when you let it go another day.

In verse 25 Jesus says, don't wait until you get to court to settle a conflict. This is

obviously a case where the accused knows he is guilty. Do the right thing now says Jesus.

Quickly agree with your accuser, and settle the issue out of court. If you procrastinate

and let the thing drag on into tomorrow, you will suffer the consequences tomorrow. Get

your punishment over today by settling the issue today. This is the only wise choice.