"Living for Jesus" is one of those phrases which we can sometimes



find easy to repeat. We DO mean it at the time we say it, but its

reality is not a once-for-all thing. "Living for Jesus" as, say,

Jesus lived for his Father, is a matter of a lifetime process. A

matter of constantly seeking improvement.

If we are to improve our spiritual lives and live more fully in, and

perminantly for God, it would seem logical that we must pay more

attention to how we are living at the present time. But how do we make

the present time more effectively God's time?

WHAT IS THE PRESENT TIME?

It is sometimes claimed of some people that they live in the past. In

other words, that they are too preoccupied with those parts of their

lives which are gone that they miss the present part. But what is the

present?

None of what you have read here is now in the present. It is all past!

Not long past, perhaps, but past nonetheless. This is because the present

can never be more than this, current, actual second of existence. No, not

that one when you were just reading the last line because that is now

in the past.

What this means is that, to be conscious of the present second, one

needs to be explicitly conscious of the next one to come, otherwise we

are always living in the past, since the present is too fleeting to

capture. If that sounds illogical or unacceptable, then ask: why is a

second as a measurement of time important? It isn't. Its just convenient

as ameasure of time. But in fact, half a second would do just as well -- and

it would be more accurate as a measure of the present because the first

half of the present second has already gone and so, to live in the

present,one must be living in the second half of the second. But to be

more accurate, we would need to divide each half of the second into

halves. The present is then the first half of the second half of that

second. To be more accurate still...

MAKING THE PRESENT TIME MORE EFFECTIVE...

The only objective of the last paragraph is to emphasise the fleetingness

of time and that, if we are to live more effective lives as Christians,

we need to prepare for it in advance. Simply leaving things until

the moment will likely change very little in our behaviour and attitudes.

Christianity is all about change. Even the greatest saint who ever lived

was still far distant from what God is like and what he wants of us.

There is always a need in us to change, to be different: to think and

to act and to react differently.

... DEPENDS ON OUR PAST

So how can we make that change come about if we should not live in the

past and the present is too fleeting to produce change itself? Certainly

we should not "live in the past", in the usual sense of that term. But

equally certainly any fruits of the future, and any change in the

present depend on our roots ---and our roots are in the past.

Any change which we hope to bring about in our lives depends, as always,

firstly on God's grace. But it is often profoundly said that grace

builds on nature; and change therefore also depends directly on our ability

to examine the past and to learn from it. Any kind of learning is a

very time intensive process, and learning to change spiritually is

especially so.

Moreover, it requires certain qualities which other areas of learning

do not require. One of the most important of these is a high degree

of self-honesty. We cannot learn to overcome our faults if we are too

proud to acknowledge them, even to ourselves. It also requires at least

enough humility to seek whatever we need to dealt with our shorcomings.

That may mean asking the Spirit for his grace and help; but sometimes

it can involve seeking the assistance of other Christians, which is

not always easy.

Consequently, we need a lengthy succession of present periods devoted to

an analysis of our past so that our future can benefit from that

learning process. The present only seems lengthy because of any

continuity between successive present periods. But commiting the

future to the Lord is the only effective way of commiting the present

to him, AND the past.