Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

The dawn of yet another year of educational endeavors is upon us. Johnson Bible College had its first day of classes today, the first day of my Junior year. I was walking back from class this afternoon and was listening to Brett Dennen's song World Keeps Turning. Brett sings, "Everything you have today soon could be gone away. Yesterday I had no sorrow, here today and gone tomorrow."

Everything we have today soon could be gone away! That prompted me to become very philosophical and to ponder upon this life that is but a vapor. Life is indeed short. The ignorance of youth is that we tend to ignore this very profound and very true scenario.

We don't see that life is so fragile, so short. Everything that means something to us, everything that is dear to our hearts, and those we love could be gone tomorrow. We could be gone tomorrow.

Life is short.

But Brett's lyric prompted me to examine more closely the philosophical side of what he is saying. He mentions how EVERYTHING can be gone today then mentions how he had sorrow that was here today, but gone tomorrow.

There's a tie between that.

We can as quickly lose the things that hold us back in life, that tie us down, that burden us. And shouldn't we want to lose those things? If life is temporal shouldn't we want to throw off all that hinders us from living the abundant life that Christ came to give us (John 10:10).

Sorrow, sadness, worry, death, struggles, sins, heartache, or anything that holds us down from living life fully and enjoying the kind of abundant life Christ gives MUST go!

The life that Christ came to give is not a life in the physical, not by what I gather. It is an abundant spiritual life which then in turn effects the physical, emotional, mental, and social.

The world keeps turning....

Are we going to live life abundantly as it turns? Or are we going to be weighted down by things that prevent us from obtaining an abundant life?

God is faithful. Even though we are struggling in this life there is hope always. He insures that the world does indeed keeping turning. Life goes on. What we are enduring today can be gone tomorrow. Genesis 8:22 says, "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

It's a earthly portrait of God's faithfulness to bring about the seasons.

We are the humanly portrait of God's faithfulness to bring His people through the tough seasons of life. We are His magnum opus, His most epic masterpiece.

If He is faithful and just to bring about the seasons of the earth how much more so would He be faithful and just to bring us through the winters of life into the spring that is erupting with polychromous life?

All the sorrows and struggles of this life are here today, gone tomorrow.

God is faithful to bring us through the winter.

He doesn't long for us to live in winter, but winter serves a purpose for growth and formation.

We endure it for but a season.

So I wanted to right this not only as a general encouragement, but also for the new year of academia that has begun for those of us at JBC. With school comes many stresses, worries, pains, and struggles. So to those who read this remember that when it gets hard and sorrow comes to the door to shake it off and let it go. The world keeps turning. God's faithfulness is reliable. He will bring us through.

And for those I wrote this towards as just encouragement and for the students we all must remember the same concept:

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning," as Psalms 30:5 reads.

What's here today is gone tomorrow!

Shalom,
Jonathan