The Eternity of Today
Hebrews 4:3-11
Last Sunday, Pastor Jay explained the importance of Today and quoted a line from C.S. Lewis that stuck with me:
“The present is where eternity touches time.”
Of course, I had to look it up.
It is from his book,The Screwtape Letters, a story that uses a series of fictional letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his younger nephew, Wormwood in which he coaches Wormwood on how to tempt and distract humans from things that really matter.
One of his key strategies? It’s simple. Keep humans focused on anything but the present. Get them stuck in the past or worrying about the future. Just don’t let them live in the now. Because the present, he warns, is dangerous ground. It’s where people are most likely to connect with God.
If that’s true, then the present is not just a moment, it’s a meeting place. It’s where we find peace and know love. It’s where God is.
Now, you’ll have to indulge me for this, but it reminded me of the movie Groundhog Day. Not quite up to the writing standards of C.S. Lewis, I know, but a reference more of us might be familiar with.
In the movie, Phil, a grumpy, cynical weatherman, is forced to relive a single day over and over again. At first, he spirals; focusing too much on each day, trying to get out of the despairing loop. But, eventually, his perspective shifts. He begins to embrace each new day as an opportunity; a gift.
He learns ice sculpting, French poetry, and to play the piano, but he also takes opportunities to notice others he’d overlooked before, and makes himself available to them. He no longer uses the day just to get by, but to give.
Finally, when he lives that one day fully awake and present, is he able to jump out of the loop.
God asks this of us, too. Not to just mark time, but to meet Him in it. Be fully present with a friend, a child, a spouse, or with the God of the universe.
Dallas Willard wrote,“God will not compete for our attention. We must arrange time for our communion with Him as we draw aside in solitude and silence.”
This week, while praying through the DWELL prayer resource, I tried something new. As I read Psalm 23, I added “Today” at the end of each line.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing today.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, today.
He leads me beside quiet waters, today.
He refreshes my soul, today.
… and so on. That word helped ground me in the Now.
Not until I got to the last verses did the Psalm turn to the future:
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Life can push us backwards to regrets or forwards in anxiety. Don’t miss Jesus waiting in the middle of your ordinary. Eternity is touching time, right now.
TUNING IN:
• What usually pulls your attention away from the present—regret, distraction, worry? How might God be inviting you to return to now?
• How can you make space today to be fully present—with God, with yourself, or with someone else?
• What would it look like to trust that God is providing for you—not just in the past or someday in the future—but in this exact moment?
RESOURCES:
DWELL Prayer Guide