The Gift of God's Future

          Recently, I had a conversation with a pastor friend of mine about the work First Baptist Cornelia is doing as around our Living By Faith emphasis.  As I described the work of our different initiative teams, he used a wonderful phrase that caught my imagination.  He said, “It sounds like you are experiencing the Gift of God’s Future.”  I love this idea – the Gift of God’s Future.  Indulge me for a moment as I reflect on its meaning in our context. 

            The metaphor that resonates most profoundly in my soul and life about the providence of God and God’s future describes God as the Master Weaver.  God as the Master Weaver stands in front of the barrier we call “Now” or “the present,” as a weaver stands before a loom.  Great strands of fabric stretch out before him, full of potential. God, the creator and artist, weaves this fabric into a beautiful tapestry called life.

            Now, imagine that God stands in our future – at the barrier between now and what will be.  As free humans who sin, hurt and love, we play a role in the tapestry God is creating.  God invites us into his future, into his life, into the joys and challenges that mold us into the person God desires us to be.  At the same time, God takes our choices – those that honor God’s future and those that do not – and weaves his purposes into our lives.

            I had a friend tell me he once thought of God’s Will as a narrow path in the woods like the Appalachian Trail.  In this metaphor, fear emerges at choosing the path correctly. We ask, “what is God’s will” afraid we might choose the wrong path.  Some of us live lives of great regret because we feel we choose wrongly. 

            When we imagine God as the Master Weaver, our choices expand.  God’s Will is not just one choice like a narrow path.  God’s will expands into a great meadow and is woven together through our choices.  We can still make bad choices and good ones – yet, there is still hope for God’s future in our lives. 

            God’s future is a gift given to us by a loving father who desires the very best for us.  Our task is to prepare ourselves for this future.  The more we grow to love God more with all of our hearts, soul, mind and body the more we prepare our lives for God’s future.  The more we learn to love our neighbor as ourselves, the more God’s future becomes a reality in our lives. 

            I hope that you will join me in celebrating God’s future alive in our church.  Let us look with eyes of faith to see God’s future at work.  And when we do – let us worship a God who continues to give us a hope and a future.  Thanks be to God.