Spiritual Discernment: Making the Choice

One of the lies many people believe today is that the future is uncertain. This is not true. The future is certain.

Now, don't come asking me for your lottery numbers since I claim to have so much certainty of the future! Of course, much of the future really is unknown. I don't know what my bank account will look like this time next year. I may be surprised how I'm doing in school, or where I'm working. I don't know who will win the next election or how the outcome of it will affect my daily life. 

Nevertheless, everywhere you turn people claim to know how much worse the future will be! But really, the opposite is true. One thing about the future is certain: it will be better.

For Christians, the future holds the fulfillment of our hope. Folks across the world seem to want to take that hope away. "Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised." (Heb. 10:35-36).

Indeed, we need endurance to withstand the evils of this world that seek to harm and destroy. Evil seeks to replace God with itself. "We know . . . that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one." (1 Jn 5:19).

Do not fear! There is a solution! "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." (Heb 12:1-2).

Whatever the future holds, we know that our future is better. "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38-39).

Whatever the future holds, my prayer for you and I is that we remain faithful to the Lord. Tests and trials will come. We pray for endurance. "Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him." (Jam 1:12).

Whatever the future holds, the Lord has promised those who love Him a crown of Life. This is how we know, with certainty, the future will be better.