NOW

We are people today who live with our minds absorbed in the present perhaps more than anybody. We are so consumed with the “NOW.” I mean it’s just natural. Whatever satisfies my immediate desires is what I pursue. So much so, that most of us exist in the "NOW" of conversation more than even the topic of conversation itself. I mean, rather than analyzing the the propositions or questions or topics that someone is speaking about, we the other person's perception of me during the conversation. So the conversation itself becomes elevated much higher than the topic within the conversation. This is why it has become so easy to lie. We care more about the NOW (what does this person think of me right now), rather than the future (what will he think of me when he finds out i'm lying). We would rather deal with the second question when it becomes reality, or when it becomes NOW. So, we are always consumed with the “NOW” and therefore we have little regard for the future, and virtually zero regard for the past. I mean we are historically stupid people! Do you even realize how much we don’t know history? And I’m not saying all of us struggle to pass history class….I’m saying we don’t know the story of the world! We don’t know what has gone on before us or outside of us!

So why should I care about history? So people don’t think I’m stupid? I am definitely NOT saying THAT. I don’t care much about what people think of you in the “NOW” or what they think of me in the “NOW.”

I think maybe the theory of evolution has taught us to be this way. Evolution teaches us that we are unique…we are not like the people who lived before us. We are the highest evolved beings and so the situations we face today and the ways we respond today are NOT COMMON, they have never been experienced before so the only way for us to deal is to live in the NOW and react however we feel is the best way to react. The best thing history can do for us is to provide us with similar examples, but there IS NO common Human race who all share the same tendencies. We are all at unique levels of development with unique situations.

But Ecclesiastes offers another approach: “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” (Ecc. 1:9 NLT)

So why should we care about anything outside the “NOW?” Because your “NOW” is not unique. And stepping outside of it for a while will give you so much wisdom to help you better understand your “NOW” and make better decisions in the “NOW.”