Tuesday, March 27, 2012
“Carpe Diem” Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13,14
Time flies when you’re having fun. I have enjoyed serving as chairman of this Council for the past four years. The time has gone by fast. Some things have gotten done along the way, and we’ve had some really good church. But now it is time to turn our collective attention to what lies ahead. It is never a good thing to expend too much time or energy on the past, when there is so much kingdom work yet to be done.
Strangely enough, we find ourselves in a conflict of sorts as Christ tells us to “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Matthew 6:34. The apostle Paul is admonishing us to forget the past, and Jesus is telling us not to focus on the future. That leaves to us a very narrow place from which to operate as God’s people.
The place from which we operate is today. We operate in the now. Some songwriter penned the words, “yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow may never be mine. So for my sake help me to take one day at a time.” So, Jesus goes on to tell us that, “...Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof“. “...the day” that Jesus speaks of is the day that you are currently living in. What I do today, what you do today, cannot change what happened yesterday. I can by what I do today touch what may happen tomorrow. But if I fail to ‘seize the day’, I have absolutely no chance of affecting tomorrow.
We have before us a grand opportunity. It is an opportunity to bring unprecedented glory to our God. To accomplish this we must “redeem the time” that God is giving to us. Our only justification for looking at the past is to use it as a foundation or springboard, or encouragement for what we will do with this ‘today’, this ‘right now’ that God has blessed us to live in.
Following this article is a look back at what has been accomplished over the course of the last four years. Hopefully we are encouraged to face our tomorrow based on what God has done in our yesterday. That look back is followed by a projection of what we might possibly do in the future with the help of the Lord. But it all comes down to the decisions we will make today. And so my question is this, what shall we do now with this Illinois State Council that we are blessed to be a part of?
Carpe diem, is the Latin phrase meaning to ‘seize the day’, in the sense of, to enjoy, take advantage, and make use of. This day is all we have. It is a gift from God. It is my prayer and hearts desire that we will bind ourselves together in worship and service of Jesus Christ. He is the alpha and the omega. The first and the last. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I’m enjoying Jesus, how about you?
Because of Calvary!
Bishop Jonathan B. Franklin